Super Dangerous Stuff Tony Would Disapprove Of
by kenzithewriter
Summary: A few years after the Infinity War, Peter is 19 staying at the Tower for the summer, and Loki is meant to stay with them for a while due to complications on Asgard. Peter's curiosity is piqued and he desperately wants to meet him, Tony has different plans. But when has that ever stopped Peter? Some Stony thrown in too. Slow burn, maybe eventual smut.
1. Peter Makes a Plan

"Mr. Stark, you're being ridiculous!" Peter threw his hands up while following after Iron Man himself.

"No, I'm being practical," he shot back over his shoulder, not missing a beat.

"Practical?" The smaller man sputtered the word out in disbelief, "secluding me away, locking up half of the tower, and making me follow a schedule down to the minute is practical?" If Peter hadn't been so frustrated he might have pulled his phone out and silently sent Tony a meme, the one from Princess Bride saying "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means." As it was however, he just kept trailing after him, expressing his incredulity through flying limbs. "It's a bit excessive."

"You know what's excessive, kid? Teaming together with an army of alien warriors to try and rule a whole planet because your daddy cut you off from the inheritance. You know what else? Faking your death in front of your brother and impersonating your father, while he sits in a nursing home under a spell on the aforementioned planet that you tried to take over, so you can rule your own planet afterward. Stop me if you're getting the hint?"

Peter forced the groan creeping up his throat back down, trying to be as reasonable as possible, "Anyone ever tell you you really hold a grudge?"

"Yeah I guess I'm funny that way, I remember when people attempt to take over my planet." Tony continued walking through the halls, barely sparing Peter a glance as he argued with him.

"But people change! All of that was years ago, and since Loki hasn't caused any trouble, and you know what Thor said, he sacraficed himself to try and stop-"

"Yeah I know what Thor says, and I also know Thor's always had a blind spot where his brothers concerned, and maybe you also caught the part of that story where the whole reason Thanos attacked them was because Loki took the tesseract from Asgard and was hiding it. Who knows what his real agenda had been."

Peter could feel himself losing the battle, but he wouldn't back down so easily. Peter had been staying here at the Tower with Stark during the summer between college classes. He was not only frustrated at the idea of missing the opportunity to finally meet Loki, well missing is generous, more like being robbed of it, but more than that, he was 19 years old now, he was well above the friendly neighborhood spiderman at this point, and still Tony was treating him like a child, telling him who he can and can't associate with.

He tried not to take it so hard, the protective nature Tony had over him, especially after Thanos, he knew it was only because he cared, and he appreciated that, but it could be suffocating. He often still felt like he had to prove himself, prove that he was capable and could stand on his own.

When Peter had found Tony rushing around, freshening up locks and doors and the IA systems, Peter was instantly curious, but he hadn't in a million years guessed what was really happening. "What's going on? Friday lock you out of the liquor cabinet again?" He joked.

Tony only glanced at him and scoffed, "That's never happening again, not if FRIDAY knows what's good for her!" He spoke up on that last part, but never lifted his gaze from the ipad he carried.

"Then…?" Peter gestured to his ipad and the door he was standing in front of questioningly, "What are you doing?"

Tony made eye contact briefly, seeming to be gathering his thoughts and calculating something, then seemed to come to a decision. "We've got a guest staying with us for a while."

"Cool. Who is it? Oh oh! Is it the guardians?" Peter took off on a ramble as his excitement took over the part of the brain that controlled his mouth, "Because I still have to beat Rocket's ass at Halo, oh and I have some more music for Quill!" Peter started bouncing with energy, but it simpered out quickly when he took in Tony's clenched jaw and tight stance, and the way he was ignoring Peters babbling, which usually earned some sort of flippant sarcastic quip. "So… Not the Guardians?" Peter asked awkwardly.

Tony glanced at him again before answering, watching for a reaction this time, "No. It's Thor's brother."

Peter took this in for a second, and he felt the bout of excitement rebound as he thought about what this meant, the possibility of meeting Loki. Asking him every single question about his magic abilities until the god turned him into some animal just to get him to shut up. Bugging him about knife throwing until he taught him how, or threw one at him to shut him up. Talking him into sparring with him just to see what it's like to fight Loki, to fight a God. And then probably dying because of getting on his nerves so damned much.

Peter started grinning, without even realizing it, and was answering in a rush of words, "Loki? Like The Loki?" Tony flinched at the name, as if he were talking about Voldemort, but Peter couldn't even focus on it through his enthusiasm, "That's great! When does he get here? How long is he staying? Why is he staying, isn't he supposed to be helping bring back the Asgardians? Is he going to help us on missions? Oh man I bet he's amazing in a fight, oh! Do you think he likes video games? I could totally whoop his ass in Halo! You think I could-"

"No, absolutely not." Tony finally cut Peter off, his eyes a bit wide at the boy and his outpour of words, completely shocked by this reaction, and his doubt and dread about the prospect of the trickster living under his roof doubled. "There will be no Halo with Loki, or any other video games. No Fraternizing of any kind with Loki."

Peter was a bit shocked at this, and then he put two and two together, taking a look at the ipad again and all the locks on the doors, and he felt an ice of unease slip up his spine.

Tony didn't wait for another reaction, he just handed him a laminated floor plan, "These are the new living arrangements," and walked off, leaving Peter to blanche at the thing, marking off several room as off limits and many more having specific allotted times of allowed entry.

"Oh no no no no…" Peter muttered before tearing after Stark down the halls. That was a few days ago, and so far their argument had gone exactly nowhere.

Peter sighed inwardly, pulling out of his thoughts and pushing on, "But, again, it's been years since any of that, even Bruce talked about how he ended up fighting with them on Asgard and did so honorably, and ya know with Thanos and the soul stone-" I caught myself before I let the thought weasel all the way out, how being in the soul stone like that, It wasn't something you could easily shake off. But that wasn't a memory I tried to remind Tony of. Besides a slight tension that formed in his shoulders, he didn't acknowledge the comment. "I just think it's been long enough, we should at least give him the benefit of the doubt here."

"Oh, I am, it's the only reason I'm allowing him to stay here at all, and you're not going anywhere near that lunatic." We reached Tony's office and he stepped through the door, turning to lean against it and look Peter over. "Listen, Pete, just trust me on this one? The guy is trouble."

"You do remember I'm a superhero right? Spiderman? Shoots web out of my hands and can climb walls? Ring any bells?" Peter tried, looking at him hopefully.

Tony smirked at the kid, familiar sarcasm written all over the older man's face, "Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with it, maybe you remember I'm the guy who pays for your classes and puts a roof over your head, oh and all those fancy video games you wanna play so badly with villians?"

"Hey!" Peter interjected, about to launch into a defense, since he'd tried to fight Stark on every one of those purchases, but Tony cut him off, a small smile of fondness taking over the smirk, "Go to sleep, Parker, I'll try to arrest you a video game partner tomorrow if it means that much to you." Tony shut the door on Peter, making the smaller man slump his shoulders in defeat.

"Well, tomorrow should be fun…" Peter muttered to himself as he turned back down the corridor, looking down at the floor plans in his hand. It was marked up like a boot camp, off limits rooms and time frames for when certain parts of the tower were safe to enter. Peter scoffed to himself, disbelieving Tony went to these lengths, but also kind of finding it amusing.

His thoughts turned back over to what was happening. Tomorrow morning, Loki Odinson himself would be here, not only on Earth, not even just in the same city, but in the very same building as Peter. The idea itself was surreal.

Peter knew all about Loki, not only all of the bad stories, and there were plenty, but also the good ones. The ones Thor would tell Peter late at night, reminiscing over missed family members together. Thor loved his brother, and it was obvious, even when he would tell stories about Loki's cruel moments, like turning himself into a snake to trick Thor into picking him up only to turn back and stab him, he would tell the story with a gleam in his eye. He respected and admired Loki, even at his lowest points.

Peter was amazed to see such unconditional love for someone like that, such a bond. It struck Peter in a way that he couldn't shake, couldn't even really grasp. Peter had plenty of friends and family, he wasn't unloved by any means, but something about the love between them just fascinate Peter. Maybe it was his desire for his own sibling. Maybe it was the fact that no matter what Loki did, Thor always loved and cared for him. Peter felt like he had to be the best he could be just to deserve the love he currently was getting, constantly having to prove himself. The love Thor had for his brother, that had to be one helluva burden on Loki's shoulders, and Peter could scarcely imagine.

So, after hearing about their brotherhood, just a taste of their shared life, and Peter needed more. Thor telling him stories became a regular thing from there. They would constantly get together and just chat, it was a rare moment that Peter wasn't the one talking a mile a minute. Instead he listened to Thor talk about home, about growing up with a cunning genius of a brother who had a cruel streak and mystical powers he could only imagine. About a father who loved them, more so on condition than unconditionally if you asked Peter, but Thor didn't, so he never shared his thoughts.

Peter heard stories of adventures and fights and all kinds of tests and trials, loss and pain sometimes. And the more he learned about their grand adventures, sometimes against each other; sometimes together, the more he wanted to meet the infamous Loki himself. Even after the stories of destruction and pain he caused, Peter couldn't help but be fascinated with the god. He was a legend, everything he did seemed astounding to Peter. Between the manipulation and the grand schemes of take over, he was a mystery and a badass in Peter's mind. He'd been wanting to meet him for years now.

Thor had said Loki was different now, and Peter believed it. Even if he didn't fully trust him, he believed in second chances. In redemption. And, he believed that being in that soul stone? Even if it had been a trick to stay alive by Loki, which was genius on its own, wasn't an experience Peter wished on anyone, he knew first hand how it could affect someone. He didn't for a second doubt how it could completely change a person, whether he originally had ulterior motives or not.

Peter understood why Tony was doing it, and he knew wholeheartedly that he only did it because he cared. And that knowledge warmed him, but it didn't also stop it from being annoying and an incredible inconvenience. Peter mostly indulged Tony's over protectiveness, especially after Thanos. He didn't want to worry Tony or cause him any more stress, which is why he mostly did all of the Super Dangerous Stuff Tony Would Disapprove Of, in secret. Because Peter also cared for Tony, and this was his own way of protecting him.

So, if Tony's mind couldn't be changed about Loki, Peter would just have to take matters into his own hands, because there was no way in hell Peter was about to miss his chance of meeting the God of Mischief.


	2. Peter Asks His Other Dad

Whenever Tony was being unreasonable, which was most of the time, Peter usually went to Steve next. Even though things had been strained for a while with the whole Bucky aspect, Thanos had kinda put things in perspective and they mellowed out. Mostly.

Steve had been staying at the tower for a while, sometimes staying away for a bit during missions, but technically he lived here too.

So the instant Peter had woken up, he tracked Steve down, finding him sitting at the kitchen island with a mouthful of cereal and looking like he had just crawled out of bed.

Peter wasted no time in launching straight into his speech, much to the surprise of the sleepy Captain, who sat staring at him in bewilderment as he continued to babble.

"But it's totally unfair! I helped fight Thanos, you really think I cant handle myself? Come on, I'm 19, I'm a full fledged superhero, an actual Avenger! I shouldn't be forbid from socializing with someone! If you guys can trust him to live here, you should be able to trust me to meet him!"

After Steve finally swallowed his cereal, he had to put his hands out in a calming gesture just to get a word in edgewise, "Slow down. Now what are you talking about?"

Peter looked up at the ceiling and groaned in exasperation, "Loki!" he said, as if Steve were dense.

"Oh, so you talked to Tony?" Steve asked mildly.

"Yeah, and he won't budge! He's being absurd here, right?" Peter asked hopefully, expecting some validation at the very least.

But Steve's face just looked kind of apologetic as he shoveled another bite into his mouth.

Peter squinted at the older man in suspicion. "You don't actually agree with Tony on this do you?"

When Steve sighed and set his spoon down in the bowl, Peter threw his hands up in exasperation, "Of course you do! The one time I actually need you two to be against each other and fighting over something, and you're siding with each other."

"Hey now, we don't fight." Steve said defensively, and when Peter only lifted his eyebrows in response, Steve fidgeted in his seat slightly, "I mean, not that often, and it's not fighting per se, just casual disagreements." He tried reasoning, looking awkward about the subject.

"Please," Peter said, still completely unconvinced, and a bit amused, "You guys are at each other's throats for everything. Just a week ago you were bickering about how to make a proper cup of coffee."

Steve looked indignant at that, instantly picking up the argument "That machine does not-" He cut off abruptly when he caught Peter's smug look, and he scowled at the younger man, good heartedly though. "Listen, Pete, I'm sorry but I kind of think I should stay out of this one. I know there's a lot going on with Loki and Thor right now, it might be the smart move keeping you out of the way."

"I'm not a kid anymore, I won't get in the way, hell I can even help!" Peter exclaimed passionately.

"Hey, easy on the language." Steve responded, earning an eye roll from Peter.

Steve studied Peter for a minute, "Why do you wanna meet him so badly anyway? He is kind of a…" he seemed to be searching for a delicate way to say it, "bad guy, ya know?"

Peter felt a bit awkward about his little idolization. Sure, he told himself it was perfectly normal all the time, he just has a really curious nature, and Loki is a god for crying out loud, why wouldn't he be dying to meet the man? But for some reason, explaining this to anyone, saying it out loud, made him feel small and awkward. So he ignored that question, and got a bit defensive. "Oh and Bucky never did anything wrong?"

A look of pain crossed over Steve's face and Peter was hit with instant guilt and regret. He quickly tried to mend it, scrambling over the words. "Wait, no, I didn't mean- That is, Bucky-"

Steve put up a hand to stop the babbling, a small sad smile on his face, "It's okay, Peter, I get what you mean." there was something unidentifiable in Steve's blue eyes which made Peter brim with nervous energy and he started bouncing his leg in its spot. "Meeting Loki is that important to you?"

Peter glanced back up into his friend's eyes, feeling a twist of anxiety in his chest, but he knows its his best chance of convincing Steve, which is his best chance of meeting Loki. So he takes a deep breath and pushes past his fear, "Yeah, you know, I just, he's a God, that's...That's crazy." Peter was trying for his usual flippant attitude, but he could tell it was falling a bit flat. "So I was hoping to meet the infamous, uh, God of Mischief." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, and of course, Steve was picking up on it.

"Right." Steve looked at him oddly for a minute, his brow furrowed slightly. Then he sighed and rubbed a hand over his face and seemed to be thinking something over as he stared at Peter. "Alright, kid, I'll help you out."

"Really?" Peter's face lit up in a flash as he hopped up from his stool, and caught Captain America in a hug. "Thank you thank you thank you."

Steve chuckled in surprise and clapped his hand on the kid's back. "No problem, I'll just have to talk to Tony about it."

Peter pulled back from the hug, his excitement dampened just a bit, "Oh, I mean we could just keep it our little secret...?" He suggested with a feeble smile, but Steve wasn't buying it.

"No go, kid." Steve said, shaking his head as he picked up his empty cereal bowl and stood up, "I'm not starting another civil war over this. I'll go talk to Tony right now, okay? I'm sure I'll get him to come around." Steve squeezed Peter's shoulder affectionately and strode out of the room, leaving Peter alone with a stomach that wouldn't stop doing summersaults.

* * *

Steve walked out of the kitchen with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Something about the expression on Peter's face set off alarms in his head, but he couldn't figure out why. Something familiar in those eyes when he stumbled over an explanation for his interest in Loki. Steve shook his head to try and clear the thoughts. He was getting entirely too old for this.

"FRIDAY, where's Tony?" Steve asked the empty room.

"Tony is in the basement workstation." The AI's voice rang out in the quiet room, and Steve made his way to the basement.

He walked down the stairs easily, though he could already feel the old tension forming in his shoulders as he looked through the windows of the workstation, scanning for the familiar face. Tony and him had been on pretty good terms since the Thanos attack, things kind of just went back to normal. Or, well, a version of normal.

They were friends, they ate and drank together, even worked on missions together, but it felt like something was missing. It wasn't quite the same, filled with tension and awkward silences, words never said and feelings ignored. And every interaction they had sent a fresh stab of pain into the old wound. It also didn't help that almost every interaction they had ended up turning into an argument. But Steve didn't expect forgiveness anytime soon, he didn't even think he deserved it, really, not after everything he put Tony through. The idea of losing Tony might make Steve's breath catch and his heart feel like its ripping in half, but he knew Tony would be better off without him, if Steve just faded from his life, leaving him to heal and move on and forget about him.

And as much as Steve told himself this, he could never find the strength to walk away, he was weak when it came to this, cutting himself out of his friend's life. So here he was, staying in the Tower for long periods at a time. Not leading the Avengers anymore, but still going on missions with some of the heroes now and again. He at least tried to stay out of Tony's way when he was around, as much as possible without it being obvious.

He couldn't remember the last time he had actually sought Tony out, and as he finally saw him leaning over the hood of one of his many cars, he realized he also couldn't remember the last time they had been alone together.

Steve opened the glass door into the garage, wincing slightly at the loud music playing over the sound system, and he hesitantly walked towards his old friend. Tony was wearing a tank top that had probably once been white, but it was covered in all kinds of dirt and grease from all the work he was doing. His hair was disheveled and likely dirty, his muscles were being worked as he did something to the inside of the car.

Steve watched him silently as he approached, and when Tony finally took notice, he did a double take in his direction. "FRIDAY, cut the music." The loud rock music ceased immediately, and Tony examined Steve silently for a minute, and it took all of the heroes strength to stand tall and not twitch under that scrutiny, and then he finally spoke, "Something tells me you're not here to help with the tune up." He nodded to the car as he straightened up, pulling a rag out of his back pocket to wipe his hands off.

"I'm pretty sure you don't want me anywhere near your car." He managed to respond lightly, even though his insides were still in knots. Tony just nodded at him, looking a bit wary at seeing Steve down here. "Actually, I'm here to talk about Peter."

Tony's face sobered up instantly, "What about Peter? Is he okay?" His voice was hard, but the worry in his eyes made Steve's heart twist.

"Yeah, yeah, he's fine, sorry. No he… Well he wanted me to talk to you about this whole Loki thing…" Steve knew this wasn't going to be an easy conversation, even ignoring all of their own history and complications, just the subject alone was going to be difficult.

And when Tony's face looked exasperated for a minute, then turned sarcastic, he bit back a dramatic sigh, "Oh he did now, did he?" Tony asked with his usual dry manner, not revealing any real emotions in it.

"Yeah, he just seems genuinely curious about Loki, and since we're letting Loki live-"

"We aren't doing anything here, Cap." Tony interrupted, and the words really hit Steve in the heart. He doesn't even know the last time he heard the nickname from Tony, and he definitely hadn't heard it in that sardonic tone.

"No, of course not. I just…" Steve could feel himself faltering, which irritated him, the way this man unnerved him sometimes. As Steve tried to reign his thoughts in, Tony continued, ignoring his stumbling words.

"Now, I appreciate you constantly thinking my way of running my own house and operations are wrong, but I assure you, I've managed to get by just fine without your input, and I certainly don't need it now." He picked up the wrench he'd been using, going back to the car.

"Hey, that's not what I was trying to do, Tony." The anger slipping through Tony's words sparked Steve back to life, and he tried for a soothing tone, attempting to smooth things back over as much as possible, "Look, Peter asked for my help, and I was just trying to lend a hand, maybe mediate a compromise."

Tony straightened back up, now using the wrench to punctuate his words, "Right, because Steve Rogers knows what's best for everyone, and is always the good guy."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Steve asked incredulously.

"You realize you just fell for the oldest trick in the book, right?" Tony asked, ignoring Steve's question.

"What are you talking about, Tony?" Steve asked exasperatedly and not without aggravation.

"I'm talking about Peter, Einstein, he just played the 'one parent said no let me ask the other one' gimmick?" Tony crossed his arms and stared at Steve expectantly as he waited for the words to sink in.

Steve's stomach clenched at the implication there, that they were Peter's parents. There was so much to process in that one sentence, it took Steve a while to focus his thoughts. Then he rubbed his chin lightly, ignoring the way his heart skipped at the thought, and admitted that they were both kind of caretakers to the boy these days, and the kid didn't have many others to look to. It made sense, and so did Tony's theory on Peter's plan here. But still, he couldn't shake the look in his eyes, and whether this had been a trick to get his way or not, meeting Loki was something he clearly wanted, so Steve pushed forward.

"Okay… You have a point, but, honestly? Even if he was just trying to get his way, you should've heard the way he talked about this, Tony, the way he talked about Loki. He seems to really need this, and maybe we should let them meet? He is a lot older now, and he can handle a lot. Could one supervised meeting with Loki be that bad?"

Tony threw his rag down on the car and marched away, grumbling under his breath, and Steve followed, ignoring the grumbling.

"Come on, Tony, why are you even letting Loki live here if you trust him so little?" Steve asked his retreating figure.

"Oh believe me, Loki living here is the last thing I wanted, okay? So, I took precautions, and one of them is that Peter isn't going anywhere near that villian."

Peter's words flashed across Steve's mind then, Cause Bucky never did anything wrong?

"Tony, you know the stories, Loki has come a long way from that attack on New York, not that I don't think he isn't still a troublemaker, but maybe he has grown up a bit. We've all done things we regret, right? Maybe we should at least try to give him the benefit of the doubt." Tony spun on his heel at that one, and Steve was worried he'd pushed him too far, they both just stood there, tension radiating around the room.

"You just really love to fight for whatever position I'm not on, don't you?" his words were angry, but Steve could pick up the pain in it to, and his heart was breaking all over again.

"No, Tony, its it's not like that at all." he took a few steps forward, desperate to reassure his friend. Steve let himself drown in his sorrows, but he never once wanted Tony to have to do that. When he was just a few feet away, completely unsure of what it was he planned on doing, a loud crash suddenly sounded upstairs.

Both of the men snapped to attention, their personal feelings sat aside as they looked at the staircase, their bodies tensed for action. They locked gazes and so much was said in so little time, and without wasting another second, they were both moving.


	3. Loki Comes to Stay

As soon as Steve had left the kitchen, Peter had thought about following to eavesdrop on the convo, but he decided it was pointless. Knowing them it's just going to get heated and full of tension and honestly overhearing those arguments was always super awkward.

So instead, he headed for the main room, figured he'd attempt to distract himself with some video games maybe, anything to get his mind off of the fact that God of Mischief would be in this very building any time now. Thor was supposed to be bringing him by sometime today, though there hadn't been a set upon time.

Just the thought caused his stomach to jolt and his heart to beat faster. He would meet Loki, one way or another, he wasn't going to miss this chance. He could deal with a pissed off Tony afterwards.

Just as Peter rounded a corner, he finally made out noises coming from the main room, another couple hallways away, but his hearing was better than most, and he could easily pick up the sound of bickering. Peter's brow furrowed as he listened in, only catching the cascading of voices. A man's, deep and rich, sounding melodic. It wasn't a voice Peter recognized, and he was immediately on guard. The Tower might have top security, but in their line of work, you can never be too careful. Peter crept forward, straining to listen to the voices, and as he got closer, he finally heard the other man speak.

"Brother, behave yourself." Peter recognized Thor's voice instantly, and he felt like his heart had stopped. Thor was here, talking to his brother. Peter was frozen to his spot, unsure how to process the situation, his stomach full of butterflies, or was it spiders?

"Alright, I'm going to go see what is keeping the others, stay here, and don't touch anything! I had to twist Tony's arm to get him to allow you to stay, he will gladly kick you out for breaking any of his stuff." Thor's loud voice filled the room, and without even realizing it, Peter had snuck farther down the hall.

A shiver went down Peter's spine then, his hair standing on end, and he scrambled up the wall as soon as he recognized his spidey sense. He held himself on the ceiling as he watched Thor march past him in the other direction.

Peter heard the voice from inside the room mumble to themself, this time he was close enough to make out the words, "As if I'm interested in any of Stark's toys." The accent was different than anything Peter was used to, a bit similar to Thor's, but their voices were so different. Thor was loud and boisterous, but this one was sharper, controlled.

Peter's heart raced at the thought that this was the one and only Loki, the man who tore up New York. The man who tried to rule Asgard under the disguise of his father. The man who tried to kill Thor and the rest of the avengers multiple times.

He was also the man who tried to stop Thanos, no matter the risk it posed to himself. The man who offered up the tesseract to save his brother. The man who came back to help save a home that had never welcomed him.

Peter's resolve grew, and he decided this was the perfect opportunity. Steve and Tony were probably still busy bickering and Thor couldn't find his way through the Tower if he had a GPS.

Peter crept over the door and onto the ceiling in the main room, finally catching sight of Loki. He looked just like the photos Peter had seen, covered in tight black leathers with highlights of green, a long cloak hanging onto his thin frame. The only difference Peter could make was that his black hair seemed longer these days, and a good bit curlier.

Peter couldn't breathe, he wasn't sure if he was afraid of alerting the god to his presence, or if he was just that astonished to finally be laying eyes on the man. He watched as Loki made his way around the room, slowly circling and studying everything, from the statues and plants, to the few pictures on the walls. He had his hands clasped behind his back and his movements seemed relaxed, somewhat bored even.

Peter was in awe, just watching the man was enough to make him elated. And then Loki moved closer and closer, his inspection bringing him to the other side of the room, and Peter froze, now terrified that he was going to be caught by the man.

Loki stopped to pick something up and examine it, and he turned in his spot with the item in his hands, walking to stand just underneath where Peter was hanging onto the ceiling. He still seemed relaxed and unaware of Peter all together. Peter finally calmed himself down and planned to back out of the room, and maybe walk in and introduce himself like a normal person, but as soon as he moved a step backward, his world was spinning, there was a hand gripping the front of his shirt, and the next thing he knew he was slammed onto the floor, left blinking up at a sardonic expression framed by black hair, and eyes that studied him intensely.

"You can't be one of the Vidar, but maybe someone they hired? You're rather tiny for them to think you're a match for a God, aren't you?" Loki shifted so that he was pinning Peter down, his legs straddling either side of him, and as he leaned over him, he was suddenly pressing a small dagger against Peter's throat. Words stuck in Peter's throat, his mind seemed to be buffering as he just stared into those bright green eyes, feeling the bite of metal at his throat, "No matter, you were obviously sent after me-"

The words finally clicked in Peter's head, and he stumbled over himself in an attempt to explain himself, "No, wait that's not- I mean, I'm not-", Peter stopped and visibly tried to reign his thoughts in, "I should probably introduce myself, ah I'm Peter. I'm actually a huge fan!" When Loki only narrowed his eyes in response, Peter hastened to add, "No, seriously! Like, oh that time you turned into a snake and stabbed Thor, that sounded hilarious! Oh, it reminds me of this joke I played once on my friend Ned, I think you'd like him…" Peter trailed off as he noticed the look on Loki's face, full of disdain. Peter swallowed hard as he glanced down, realizing what a compromising position he was in, a bit of nervousness winding its way through his excitement, and the fact that Loki was still just staring at him, studying him carefully, something unidentifiable in his eyes.

But Loki seemed to realize something, because the suspicion slowly drained from his face, leaving only a touch of distrust. He lifted the blade away from Peter's face and it disappeared in a flash of green. He glanced down at where he had Peter pinned to the ground, raising up so that he was holding himself up over Peter, no longer holding him down. His jaw clenched and he opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by the sound of pounding feet, both of them jerking their gazes up at the door Peter had come through and watched Tony round the corner.

Tony was upside down from Peter's vantage point, but the anger was still evident, rolling off of him in waves as he stopped in his tracks, glaring them down. Peter felt his face go hot as he could only imagine how they looked, him lying there with Loki sprawled on top of him. Steve wasn't far behind, soon following Tony until he crashed into him, taking note of the two men, and then Thor was right behind them.

Peter felt Loki tense on top of him, but he didn't move as he stared them down, like prey who had spotted their hunter and waited for the first move.

"What in the hell are you doing?" As soon as the words left Tony's mouth, Loki sprung up off of Peter, holding his hands up in surrender, but still smirking like he's wanted to be caught. Tony marched over to him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, slamming him into the nearest wall.

Loki didn't fight as he was thrown, he just gave Tony a snide look as he replied in a slightly strained voice, "Wasn't it obvious?" Tony pulled him back a foot and slammed him into the wall again with a grunt.

Peter jumped to his feet at that, embarrassment and anxiety ricocheting inside of him. "Tony, stop! He didn't do anything!" He tried to be heard over the chaos, Steve trying to calm Tony down, Thor berating Loki, but it seemed impossible.

"Do you see what I mean, do you see why I wanted you kept away from him?" Tony held onto the front of Loki's clothes, gripping him tight, ignoring all of those around him. Loki held himself tall, meeting Tony directly in the eye. Tony turned his glare to Steve in turn, letting his words sink into the both of them. "This is the man you think should be Peter's new bff? Really?" The disgust in his voice made Peter flinch, though logically he knew it was because Loki had appeared to be attacking him, and he supposed he had been, but for some reason he felt a small bundle of shame burn in the pit of his stomach.

Loki's keen gaze flicked over to Peter for a brief second before returning his attention back to Tony, "Ah, they grow up so fast, don't they?"

"Loki, for once in your life, shut up!", Thor's voice boomed in the room, causing Loki to grin in a way that reminded Peter of who he was, the God of Mischief. He held his arms out in a half hearted shrug.

Peter seized the opportunity of the now quieter room, coming closer to Tony and speaking in a anxious voice, "Tony, please, it was my fault, I was- er, he caught me spying on him, and he seemed to think someone sent me after him? He let up as soon as I explained."

Tony was still furious, he glanced at Peter for a moment, the two of them locking gazes, Peter willing him to see the earnestness in his face. After what felt like hours, Tony wrenched his hands away from Loki, who stumbled to catch his balance.

Peter let out a small breath, relief flooding his body as Tony stepped away, running a hand over his face, "I told you to stay away from him, he's been here two seconds and you're rushing into altercations with him? Do you deliberately try to do the exact opposite of what I ask, or is it just luck?"

Peter took the sarcasm as a good sign, even if it was laced with anger, and he couldn't help the small smile as he quipped back, "I'd say it's more of a talent really."

"While this has been entertaining, I'd appreciate it if you could point me in the direction of my accommodations." Loki's voice cut through the room, dripping with sarcasm, and it seemed to cause Tony's blood pressure to skyrocket once again.

"Yeah, I'll get right on those accommodations, right after you go to-"

"Stark. We agreed to help them, let's try to be civil in the meantime?" Steve's voice cut Tony off, and Thor walked to his brother, clapping a hand on his shoulder, which made Loki roll his eyes slightly.

"Wait, but what was that earlier, about someone being sent after you? Are you guys in trouble?" Peter was still dying to just sit and talk to Loki, learn everything about him, starting with why they were here. Loki met Peter's gaze, his face unreadable as he studied the younger man.

Tony put a hand on Peter's shoulder and answered him, "Don't worry about it kid, we're taking care of it. Steve, will you show them to their rooms?"

Steve nodded, a look of concern still on his face, but he started to lead them away. Thor smiled in his good natured way and started to follow, Loki hesitated only a moment, eyeing Peter briefly before beginning to follow.

Peter watched as Loki walked past him, still in awe of the man, looking every bit as legendary as Peter had expected him to. He didn't want this to end and he frantically thought of something to say to him before he's left, unsure of when he'd get to see him next.

"It was great meeting you Mr. God of Mischief, er Loki sir. I uh yeah, thanks for not attacking me?" Peter cringed at his own awkwardness, running a hand through his unruly hair.

Loki gave him a quick glance over his shoulder, only giving him a brief "Hmm." In response as he left the room.

Peter and Tony stood there in awkward silence for a moment, before Tony finally spoke up, "Kid, I hope you realize you're grounded until you're like 30, and that's just for being a real pain in the ass."

Peter grinned as he responded, "You better watch your language or Steve is gonna ground you."

Tony scoffed and shook his head in response, "Parker, you got lucky this time, okay? But trust me when I say it's for your own good that you stay away from Loki. You're playing with fire here."

Peter shrugged, turning serious for a moment, "I think I can take care of myself, and even if I do get into trouble, I think it's time you trust me to be able to get myself out of it." He said with a small reassuring smile.

"There's stuff going on here that you don't know about, Peter. I mean, it's stuff even Thor and Loki can't handle. Trust me, this is the best way. Just steer clear of Loki." And with that, Tony left the room.


	4. Loki Gets into Trouble

"You cheated, ya fucking liar!" the booming voice bounced off the walls of the small bar, demanding the attention of the entire place.

Loki only quirked an eyebrow, his only outward sign of irritation as he raked the pile of money towards himself, having just severely kicked their asses at poker in the little back alley biker bar.

He'd snuck out of the tower only an hour ago, looking for some sort of trouble to keep him from killing himself. He knew being surrounded by all the heroes was going to be a challenge, but damn he really underestimated how dull these do-gooders really were. One week in the tower and he was already going crazy. So he switched his Asgardian armour for black jeans and a dark green button up shirt, with a long black coat, and he'd sought something fun to do.

"I can assure you," he spoke with a note of mock sincerity, "I did no such thing." he let the words sit in the air for a moment, and then he winked at the large man.

The other guy stood up, toppling the chair behind him and his face became bright red beneath all of the ungroomed facial hair. He pointed a meaty finger at Loki as he bellowed, and Loki just sat there counting the money, a bored expression on his face, and he mumbled to himself, "why are you humans all so damned boring in your predictability."

"You think I'm a fucking joke, you piece of shit?"

"Oh come now, is name calling really necessary?" Loki's words were polite but there was that tone of amusement underneath.

"You are going to give me my money back or I'll break every one of your goddamn fingers."

"And now with the threats." Loki was still counting his newly won money.

"I'm serious you little fag-"

Loki's eyes snapped up at the man, suddenly sharp as daggers, his bored and unconcerned manner was gone, replaced with a cold force that the whole rundown bar tooke notice of. "I'm fairly certain that word is frowned upon in your society."

The big man only roared with laughter, his few lackeys following behind nervously. The man was all too happy to think he'd hit a nerve in the smaller odd man, and he ignored any deep instincts that told him to leave it be. "Oh I should've known!" He leaned his big meaty hands onto the table and pushed his face closer to Loki's, "Well listen closely you pansey, I will not let your perverted ass walk out of here with my money, so you can hand it over and I won't beat you to hell and back, or I can break you in half and use you as scary story to keep my kids from thinking it'd ever be okay to be a fruity little bitch like you"

Loki held the man's dark gaze, burning hate and fury in one, matched with nothing but a hard set of green eyes that didn't hold an ounce of fear. Loki let his mouth turn up in a dispassionate smile that seemed almost like he was baring his teeth, "Well, thank you for actually making this quite enjoyable for me."

Then Loki wrapped his hand around the back of the man's neck, faster than anyone could see, and he slammed his face into the table, scattering money and poker chips everywhere. He stood up, hooked his foot into his chair and smashed it into the person behind him, just as the burly man straightened, blood leaking from his face and onto his hands, he was yelling. Loki grabbed ahold of the table and spun it, throwing it into a group of bikers coming straight at him, they flew back into the wall. A man with a knife was coming towards him, and Loki sidestepped perfectly, leaving his foot out and tripping the man, sending him and the knife sprawling on the floor.

The large biker finally came to his senses and was making his way towards Loki now across the room, his eyes flaming with fury as he wiped blood away from his face, and Loki stood their patiently, a small smile tugging at his lips.

The man pulled a hidden knife out and popped it open, and Loki only responded with a full grin and a spread of his arms.

The man lunged, his large body and injury slowing him down to an embarrassing speed, and Loki easily stepped out of reach. "Oh, come on, you've got to have more than that." Loki spoke in his best condescending voice, still grinning at the angry man.

He swiped the knife out quicker than Loki thought he could, just barely pulling his arm out of range, "Now, that's much better, almost got me even!" The man roared and tried for a punch, and Loki ducked, the man's knife went for him, and Loki barely caught the arm in its path, and he quickly twisted it behind the large man. Loki stomped on the back of his knees, causing the man to buckle and fall to his knees with a yell. Loki twisted the arm tightly and out fell the knife.

The room was quiet, those who weren't beaten either left or were hiding in fear now, and Loki leaned in and spoke in a quiet controlled hiss, "I will be using this as a little story for the rest of the city, don't talk out of your ass."

"Loki! Let him go!" The voice rang through the room, loud and clear, and Loki flicked his gaze up, and hid his surprise at seeing Spider-man standing in the doorway, not looking anything like the flustered boy he'd met when first returning to this planet. The suit helped of course, but Thor had already told him who he was, and that Thor would feed him to the Vidar himself if he ever told Peter's secret to anyone.

Loki looked down at the biker he held onto, and back up at the superhero waiting for him to follow orders. Loki sneered at the situation, but he leaned back down to the man and whispered, "I'm sure I'll see you around." And Loki let him drop to the floor in a heap.

Loki walked through the room, stepping over a few unconscious bodies, feeling the whole room collectively hold their breath as the watched, likely expecting a fight to break out, but he wouldn't be obliging tonight. Too much depended on being in the hero's good graces, unfortunately. So instead of doing what he wanted, fighting anyone in his way until he either made it through or died trying, he simply took his exit, barely glancing at the hero as he did.

* * *

Peter stared at the trashed bar in slight shock, seeing the destruction Loki had wrought. He watched the God walk past him and out of the bar with a detached coldness to him, one that sent a small chill up his spine. Peter reminded himself that he had no idea what happened here, and tried not to jump to conclusions, not like the rest of the Avengers.

"Karen, is anyone dead or in critical condition?" He spoke to his suit, which promptly scanned all of the slumped bodies, but none were hurt too badly. A couple broken bones and lots of scrapes and bruises, but the cops were already on their way, the police scanner describing the fight is what brought Peter here. But still, he hadn't expected to see Loki at the center of it.

The thought caused renewed energy and purpose to surge through Peter, he had to find out what happened, and this was his shining opportunity to talk with Loki, about this fight or anything else, this was likely his only opportunity, seeing as it's been a week since he came here and he's had no luck so far.

"Hold on tight guys, the police and paramedics are on the way." And Peter left the bar, making his way out onto the city streets. He looked around the empty back alley and finally spotted Loki down a ways, striding down the sidewalk like he owned it, his long black coat billowing a bit in the wind.

Peter glanced around for anyone else as he shot a web out and swung out towards the God, landing in a crouch right in front of him, causing the man to stop short, but he didn't appear to surprised.

"Stalking me now, are you?" His tone was light but also sounded a bit bored. Peter stood from his crouch, searching for something to say, but he was honestly at a loss for words, looking at him in all his glory, in normal clothing, in the middle of a New York alley, it was like Peter's brain couldn't compute the image. Luckily, Loki seemed to enjoy hearing himself talk. "If I'm not mistaken, you're meant to be baby _sat,_ not babysitting."

Peter felt his cheeks go hot and was eternally grateful for the mask hiding his face, he squared his shoulders and tried to think straight, "I was patrolling and I heard the police talking about the fight, I came out here to put a stop to it... Loki, you can't just go beating people up, what was that all about?"

"And why not? It's what all of you superheros do, is it not?" Loki spoke loftily, now leaning against the brick building they stood next to.

Peter looked at him in exasperation, not that he could see it, "I- what no, we don't beat up random people! Only those that deserve it."

"And who decides who deserves it and who doesn't? You people all like to act like you're so much better than everyone but you're doing the same thing as everyone else, beating people up. You just also get glory for it."

Peter couldn't find words for a moment, and then he heard something in the distance, police sirens. He was moving without even thinking. He grabbed Loki by the waist and shot out his web, swinging the two of them up onto the rooftops. He felt Loki stiffen and try to resist, but they were in the air before he could, and he must've realized he had nowhere to go, because he stopped moving instantly.

The second they lifted off the ground, Peter's muscle memory kicked in and his body moved of its own accord, but his mind was now racing about everything. The feeling of Loki next to him, how awkward this whole thing was, how much trouble he'd be in if Tony found out about this.

They finally landed on the roof and Loki pulled himself away stiffly, brushing off his coat and scowling slightly. The police screeched up the side of the street, piling into the bar as Peter glanced over the edge. "Sorry, I didn't think you'd wanna end up in police custody." Loki grunted in what sounded like a grateful noise and Peter couldn't help a small smile at the gruff man. Loki caught the smile and his scowl deepend.

"So, are you going to run and tattle to your avengers already?" Loki's bitter words caugh Peter by surprise.

"Oh uh no I wasn't planning on telling them. But maybe you could tell me why you started a bar fight? I would appreciate knowing you're not about to go terrorizing New York. Again."

Loki regarded Peter cooly for a moment, just studying him, and Peter had to fight the urge to fidget under the weight of that stare. "So what is it you want?"

Peter furrowed his brow in confusion. "Um, what do you mean?"

"Oh please, there is no reason you're cozying up to me other than some sort of agenda, so what is it?" Loki crossed his arms, still staring Peter down.

Peter was surprised at the question, not only at Loki's directness, but at the thought that Peter wanted something from him, "No, I'm not after anything, I just wanted to be your friend- er." Peter broke off, his anxiety spiking at the admission, realizing how stupid he sounded, his hands now fidgeting in front of him, but then he noticed the look of pure bewilderment that crossed Loki's face.

"Why?" The one word came out sour and full of disbelief, it kind of broke Peter's heart. He wondered if he really had anyone in his life, besides Thor, and even that relationship was rather rocky.

Peter wanted to tell Loki how much he admired the man, or God as it were. He wanted to tell him that he believed in him, in his ability to do good. He wanted to tell him that he deserved better than the life that he was given, better than a father who kept him like stolen treasure and better than a mother who was taken from him. Peter wanted to tell him that he understood the pressure of having to prove yourself, of having something thrust on you that you didn't feel you deserved. But Peter couldn't think straight with those bright green eyes staring at him like they were, full of calculation and distrust.

Instead Peter cleared his throat and said, "Well, um, Tony telling me I'm not allowed to is a pretty good reason."

Loki smirked at that, his eyes lighting with mischief but also held something calculating in them, "And what makes you think I'd want to be your friend?"

Peter's stomach did a flip as he answered, "Because Tony said you're not allowed to?"

Loki chuckled at that, his smile spreading father as he took Peter in, shaking his head slightly, "You're right, that is a rather good reason, isn't it."

Peter felt himself smiling back, smiling at Loki, and his stomach was fluttering with butterflies again, excitement racing through his veins. Then he noticed the police rushing into the bar they just left, and he hated to do it, but he knew he needed to drag the conversation back that way. "So then, as your new friend, care to tell me what that bar fight was about?"

Loki only put his hands in his pants pockets, looked completely at ease and unconcerned as he flicked a gaze down to all the chaos of police and flashing lights, "I was bored?" His lilting voice held a note of amusement as he lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug, a small smirk showing on his face.

Peter rose his eyebrows in slight bafflement, even though he knew Loki couldn't see it, "And you thought starting a fight in a seedy biker bar was the best way to alleviate boredom? Most people simply grab a drink at the bar instead, you might wanna try it sometime."

Loki only slightly raised an eyebrow as he kept eye contact, his bright eyes seeming to star into Peter's very soul, "I'm a God, your mortal alcohol hardly has an affect on me. And besides, drinking is more of Thor's pass time activity. I prefer a good fight."

His words sound like a challenge, but Peter isn't sure what it is, and the way Loki keeps scrutinizing him puts him on edge, so his mind jumps to the first thing it can think of, "At least you thought to change your clothes. As good as you look in your Asgardian clothes, I mean because they're nice clothes er, but they make you quite noticeable. You know because you're already a bit recognizable and they definitely make you stick out and er, I should shut up now." Peter abruptly cut off his incoherent babbling.

Loki squinted at him like he was trying to work something out and Peter began to fidget slightly, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to think straight.

After a moment of awkward silence, which felt like the longest ten seconds of Peter's life, Loki finally spoke up, "And pray tell, what does Spider-man do for fun?"

Peter's stomach dropped, hearing that melodic voice speak his superhero name, the weighted question and the way those keen eyes didn't miss a damned thing. It was all too much and Peter felt like this guy might very well be the death of him, especially if Tony were to find out. If he had any sense at all, he would turn around and head back to the tower and tell the Avengers about Loki's little stroll through alleys. But Peter had a knack for getting himself into trouble, and this was just too good to resist.

"I could show you..." Peter's voice drifted through the air, and he didn't miss the way Loki's eyes sparkled with mischief and the smirk that took place as he gestured for Peter to lead the way.


	5. Peter Shoots his Shot

Peter could feel the blood thrumming in his veins as he swung from building to building, adrenaline and nerves coursing through his body, but it was more than the usual thrill of patrolling his city, oh it was so much more.

His stomach did a flip as he glanced above him, searching the sky for about the millionth time since they left. And just over the building rooftops, Peter could make it out, the sleek and gleaming raven soaring through the air, keeping pace with Peter easily.

He couldn't help the awe that took over, and he especially couldn't keep the grin off of his face, because _Loki had turned into a raven._ And was currently following him through the city. Because that's what Peter's life was now.

Peter's heart had been in his throat when he offered to show Loki what he did "for fun", but he ignored the warning signs blaring in his head, and he did it. And it sounded like so much fun, also a bit terrifying, but Peter said what the hell. A metaphorical YOLO, if you will. He took the leap, and then he realized, with terror, that he had no idea how to get Loki there. It was halfway across the city and his options at that point in time were limited. Loki's disguise was pretty flimsy by himself, let alone the attention being with Spider-man would draw, they'd figure Loki out immediately. And Peter definitely couldn't be seen gallivanting across town with a known villain, even if he is an ex villain, that would be a PR nightmare and also would get him grounded for life by Tony.

And a "Okay, Loki, literal God and ex-villain, I'm just gonna carry you and swing us across half of NYC real quick, sound good?" Was too embarrassing to even think about. So Peter's solution was a smooth and quick explanation of the predicament.

"So- er, I don't, I mean how do you… Uh…" He cleared his throat and tried again, "it's kind of far away… I don't know, how do you um wanna get there?" His voice went up in pitch at the end, his nervousness abundant as his words tumbled out, his hands gesturing wildly.

Loki only continued to smirk, a vague gleam of cutting amusement in his eyes as he waited for Peter to finish his rambling. "Hmm, you go ahead and do your thing, Spider-man." The way he spoke his name sent shivers down Peter's spine, like a malicious melody.

"Er, are you sure…?" Peter rubbed the back of his neck as he frowned over the rest of the long city, not understanding what Loki's plan could be.

"Trust me, I can keep up." His tone was smug and his eyes seemed to hold a challenge, which Peter felt in his bones.

And that's how he ended up swinging through New York City with a raven God as a flying companion. Now, he couldn't help himself but to push faster and faster, subconsciously testing just how well his new friend really could keep up.

Peter glanced up again, his eyes finding the raven easily, darting through the sky, matching Peter's speed effortlessly. A grin took over his face and he reveled in the feeling, he felt alive, like fire was running through his veins. He hadn't only befriended Loki, he was practically racing him through the sky, and it was the best night he's ever had, and he hung out with the Avengers on a regular basis. But this was a new kind of fun, a new kind of dangerous, and he was eating it up.

"Oh shit!" Just as Peter glanced away from the mesmerizing raven, he realized he was heading straight for a neon sign on the side of a building. Peter threw out a frantic web and managed to just miss it, but he felt the embarrassment course through his whole body and could only hope Loki hadn't noticed. "Okay, Peter, stop ogling the raven and keep your eyes in front of you." Peter mumbled to himself as he focused on swinging.

Peter finally reached the building he wanted in the financial district a little bit later. He leapt onto the rooftop and landed in a crouch, standing up to look around for Loki, making sure he knew they reached their stop.

And just as he spotted the bird flying towards the rooftop, there was a flash of green and out of the color came Loki, rolling onto the building and landing perfectly. Before he even finished standing up Peter was bombarding him with questions.

"That was so fucking cool! I mean, I knew you could shape shift already because of Thor's stories, but hearing it and seeing it, holy shit! What else can you turn into? Like you just have unlimited shape shifting abilities? That is so dope! Oh my god, dude what is it like flying? Can you still think as an animal? I mean do they have thought patterns different than us? Or does your mind stay the same even if-" Peter cut off suddenly, finally taking notice of how much rambling he was doing, his cheeks heating instantly at the thought. He finally stopped and took notice of Loki. At first he'd looked genuinely surprised at the onslaught of questions, but quickly that had been covered with a look of horror, and now he looked greatly pained. "Uh, sorry, I might've gotten a bit carried away there." Peter said sheepishly.

Loki's face smoothed out a bit, but his eyes still looked a bit narrowed in suspicion, but Peter was beginning to think that was just his natural state. " No matter, though maybe give me a warning next time you want to give a frenzied monologue?" Peter was never as grateful for his mask as he was now. "So, there doesn't seem to be much going on in this part of town, where are we exactly?" Loki was inspecting the buildings, having already moved on from Peter's outburst.

"Oh yeah, most of the places are closed right now." Peter looked around, trying to distract himself from how fricken awkward he was. He found the vent he'd been looking for and eagerly set to task, lowering himself to begin taking out the screws, he glanced back over and did a double take when he saw the expression Loki wore as he leaned against a pole, looking completely at ease, and wearing a most cunning smile as he stared down at Peter.

"What…?" Peter asked apprehensively. Peter might genuinely believe Loki isn't a bad guy anymore, that he's grown and changed at his core, and he might even sincerely like the guy, but Peter wasn't an idiot. Loki was still the god of mischief and chaos, and even his most innocent pranks likely held a bite.

Loki seemed to sink into that smirk, his entire body conveying trouble. He held himself like a dare, taunting and goading everyone, "Why, Spider-man, are we breaking and entering?" His voice was full of mock innocence, and he still managed a note of amusement behind it.

"What?" Peter yelped, "No, I was-"

"I should've realized fighting humans was pointless, they're just too easy. You've definitely got the right idea here, under the radar criminal activity is really the best way to alleviate boredom."

Peter jumped up, "No no no no, that's not what I was saying whatsoever!" Peter couldn't get the image of Loki being caught in the middle of a bank robbery and Tony finding out that Peter gave him the idea, "I'm not even breaking in really! They never even know I'm here, I'm in and out and honestly if I asked them they'd probably give me a key! And- oh." Peter caught the self satisfied grin Loki was now wearing. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"

"God of Mischief after all." Loki elegantly shrugged one shoulder, "But dress it up how you want, hero, you're definitely still breaking and entering."

Peter gave a chuckle and an eye roll as he went back to taking the vent cover off. Loki was poking fun at Peter now, and sure, he might be making fun of him more than anything, but Peter couldn't help feeling like he was onto something here, like he might really have a chance at a friendship here. Peter wasn't sure he'd be able to wrap his mind around it.

He pulled the cover off the vent and set it aside, looked down the familiar tube, and back up at Loki with a smirk of his own. "Well, lets see if you can still keep up then." And with that, Peter jumped right into the vent.

He shot webs at his sides as he fell, landing smoothly at the bottom. He was sure Loki would easily find a way down, but it was a long drop down and Peter was hoping he'd at least be able to have a fun with it.

He made his way through the rest of the pipe and he heard a small buzzing noise, and then, just ahead of him a hummingbird came into view. It was gorgeous, black with a shine that looked almost green, with wings beating so fast they were practically invisible. "That is so fucking awesome." Peter breathed without even meaning too. And then the hummingbird proceeded to dart all around him the rest of the way through the vent.

"And here we are!" Peter definitely felt weird talking to a hummingbird, but he tried not to overthink it. He rested over a vent cover in the ceiling and popped it open in a swift move, and then lowered himself into the room easily. Loki darted out of the vent and in a flash of green, this time Peter was more prepared, and he turned back into his normal self, smirk and all. Peter still had to work to keep the out pour of his inner thoughts contained.

Loki took a sweep of the room, but his look turned dubious quickly. "And where exactly is here?"

"Wait, you don't know what this is?" Peter lost all thoughts of shape shift and magic, his mind latching onto a new topic of interest.

"Should I?" Loki said, looking for all intents and purposes, completely unimpressed with Peter's mystery location.

"Should you? Of course you should! It's like a hallmark of childhood!" When Loki still gave him a blank look, Peter continued his tirade, " You haven't lived until you've spent hours in an arcade. And do you know what's even better than an arcade?" Peter was grinning now, his excitement outweighing any nervousness.

"Anything?" Loki muttered.

"A closed arcade." Loki looked at Peter like he might've been dropped on the head as a small child, which Peter ignored. "Come on already, you said you wanted to see what I do for fun, didn't you? Well don't knock it till you try it." Peter turned back around, surveying the room. "Okay, I'm gonna go flip the breaker so we have some power."

Peter didn't have much trouble finding it in the employee room, he had done this a few times before. Though usually he never had company with him, so that was new. "Ah, here we are." Peter mumbled to himself, opening up the breaker box and searching for the correct switches. He didn't need all of the place on so he tried to work out which levers turned on which games. He took the mask off so he could see easier as he read through the breakers. "Let's see here." Peter flipped a few and turned to look through the main room and see what was on. The machines gave off enough light for them to see by and not too much that they'd get caught. Peter shut the breaker box and turned toward the door, about to put his mask back on.

"You could leave the mask off you know."

Peter jumped at the sound of Loki's voice coming from right in front of him. "Jesus Christ you really know how to sneak up on someone." He cleared his throat, finally recognizing Loki's words, "Um I just took it off to read the switches easier." He mumbled while awkwardly gesturing behind him, twisting the mask in his hands now.

Loki still stood there, leaning against the threshold, looking content, but also a bit pleased with himself for catching Peter off guard. "I'm just saying, I of course already know who you are so it's kind of pointless at this point. Plus I'm pretty sure no one else is here to see you, so you're safe... Mostly." Peter rose his eyebrows at the last part and Loki just shrugged, "I do have a reputation to uphold." And with that he walked back out to the main room, leaving Peter with his mask in his hands and his stomach in knots.

Peter decided to leave the mask off. He'd probably need it off for most of these games any way, right? So really it's a smart move, he's not really doing it for Loki.

Peter walled back to the main room, trying to play it cool as he looked over the games in the room. "okay so, where to start…" wearing his suit but no mask felt weird, even though he knew he didn't need to keep his identity secret any more.

Peter tried to shake out the thoughts in his head like an etch-a-sketch and focus on what was right in front of him. He looked over the games, all your basic arcade games, and really, he loved them all. Especially here at night, there was something magical about being alone in an arcade after hours.

But this was going to be the first arcade game Loki has ever played, it had to be a good one. And then Peters eyes landed on it, a crane machine in the back corner.

"Perfect!" He spoke under his breath. his face lit up with excitement. He turned around and took Loki by the wrist, pulling him along as he bounded across the room.

"And, here we have it, the perfect first arcade game, a crane machine!" Peter held his arms up to show off the game, in classic Will Smith fashion. Loki regarded the machine like it was a zoo animal that just laid there and disappointed all the hyped up kids, before turning the unmoved gaze back to Peter.

"You can't be serious." Peter's stomach dipped in nervousness at the weight of those intense green eyes and the sound of Loki's condescending voice.

Peter swallowed as he attempted to stick to his guns, "It's a staple in American arcades, and practically a right of passage for every child" He kept his eyes on the machine to try and quell the nervousness.

"This heap of metal is a right of passage? No wonder you mortals are hopeless." Loki shook his head as he looked at the game with disdain.

Now Peter was a little offended on behalf of crane machines and arcade rooms everywhere, "Hey now, this heap of metal may not be some sophisticated technology from Asgard-"

Loki scoffed, "Clearly."

"But it's beloved here, and it's actually a lot harder than you might think!"

"Doubtful."

Peter gave an exasperated chuckle, "Then by all means." He directed Loki to the joystick. "You use the joystick to move the crane and pick up one of the stuffed animals, press the button to-"

Loki was already moving the joystick, aiming for a stuffed animal with a very smug look on his face, "It's pretty self explanatory, Parker." Peter Focused on the moving crane in order to ignore the sudden goosebumps he got when Loki called him by his last name.

They both watched silently as Loki adjusted the crane over an odd looking teddy bear lying on top of the rest of the stuffed animals. It looked to be in a good position, but you really never knew with these games. Loki hit the button, and Peter couldn't help but hold his breath as they watched the crane slowly descend on it's target.

The bear was snatched up easily, the Crane grabbing ahold of him and pulling it upward. Peter felt a grin taking hold, even though he'd started with hopes of showing Loki just how difficult the game could be.

Just as the bear almost reached the top of the trajectory, it began to slip from the cranes grasp, and the tension skyrocketed as Peter watched it move towards the corner of the machine, but the bear kept sliding out of its grasp the whole way.

"Come on... no no no!" Peter grimaced as the bear fell just out of reach of the exit and it plopped right back down on the pile of stuffed animals, his lifeless eyes staring at them mockingly. "Well, what can you do? Hardly anyone actually- Loki!"

Peter swiftly stepped in front of Loki just as he pulled a knife out of thin air and raised it above his head, a look of determination on his face "Whoa, Loki, what are you doing?"

"I'm getting what is rightfully mine from that cheating piece of junk, now move." Loki sidestepped Peter and lifted his knife again, but Peter followed him, putting his hands up and tried to reason with him.

"You can't damage the game Loki! This is someone's property, kids play this-"

"Then I'm doing them a favor!"

"Oh my god", Peter looked at him in disbelief, "stop being a sore loser and put the knife away." Loki stopped glaring at the machine and instead started squinting menacingly at Peter, causing the younger boy to cringe and get a little flustered.

He was almost worried he'd gone too far and Loki might go on a rampage just out of spite, and boy wouldn't that be fun to explain to the Avengers, but eventually Loki just let out a wry laugh and put his knife away in a flash of green. "Fine, but I have a request."

Peter looked the God over warily, "And what would that be?" He hoped his voice sounded more confident than he felt

"Well I hope you're not afraid of a little friendly competition, Parker."


	6. Peter Asks for a Dance

Peter was going to play air hockey with Loki. That was a part of real life. He tried not to think about it too much. Especially the look in Loki's eyes as Peter explained how to play, pulling the puck out of the hole as the machine whirred to life.

"So you hit the disk into the hole, got it." Loki stood on his half of the table, he tossed his jacket onto a pinball machine and began rolling his sleeves up past his elbows, causing Peter to swallow nervously as he tried not to stare too much. When Loki requested they play against each other, air hockey was the first thing that had come to mind, and already Peter had a feeling he was going to regret it.

"Yep, that's pretty much it. Um, I'm sure this goes without saying, but uh, no magic?"

Loki glanced up from working on his sleeve and gave Peter a dull look, "I highly doubt I'll need magic to win such a rudimentary piece of machinery."

"Yeah," Peter responded with a healthy dose of sarcasm, "just a friendly reminder though that you tried to gut the last game you thought was gonna be easy."

Loki squinted at Peter from across the table, "Let's just play the game, Parker."

Peter was nodding his head quickly in response,"Right, right okay." He sat the disk down in front of him, both of them now leaning over their side of the game, looking intently at each other as the table hummed between them. Peter could feel the anticipation in the air, though he was pretty sure his own adrenalin was just from nervousness, unlike Loki's.

The disk floated in front of him for just a second as he looked back to the piercing green eyes, took a deep breath, and flicked the disk to the side, letting it ricochet perfectly towards the goal, but Loki shot it back just as fast, not holding back, his eyes tracking the puck easily, and before Peter even realized, he was sucked into the game. They went back and forth, neither paying attention to anything around them, their eyes locked on the puck as it flew at incredible speeds. Several minutes had passed before Peter finally landed the puck into Loki's goal slot, and the boy was instantly jumping around and shouting with unabashed glee, a huge grin spread across his face as he pumped his fists in the air.

Loki was glaring as Peter wrapped up his slightly dramatic victory dance, but he was pretty sure Loki was simply trying to hide a smirk of amusement. "That was a lucky shot, kid, but if you so wish to let your ego get the best of you, who am I to get in your way?" Oh yeah, he was definitely smirking underneath the glare, and Peter grinned right back at him.

Loki pulled the puck back out and dropped it onto the table, hitting it straight for Peter. They went again, and again, both getting lost as they scored a point back and forth, each round lasting longer than an average person's would. Peter was still pumped when he got to 6 points, still neck and neck with Loki, but they both knew the next score would settle the game.

"Yeah, enjoy it now, your victory won't last for much longer." Loki said, his voice dripping with a challenge.

"Oh you can't fool me, you're enjoying yourself, just admit it." Peter pointed an accusing finger at Loki, winding down from his latest dance.

"I'll enjoy beating you, if you ever quit jumping around that is."

"Bring it on, old man." Peter smirked as he came back to his spot, leaning into the game as Loki rolled his eyes and pulled the puck back out.

Loki hit it faster than even Peter's eyes could see, and he just barely managed to block it. They went back and forth, Peter could feel the electricity in the air, the moment so intense, his focus on the puck undividable, and then Loki slung the puck with one last hard hit, and Peter's spidey sense set off, and just before the puck could sink into Peter's face, he hit the floor. There was a loud crack, and Peter rolled to his feet effortlessly, spinning around to find the puck lodged into the wall directly behind him.

Peter glanced at Loki, whose face held a small amount of surprise in his raised eyebrows, but mostly he seemed to be looking at our thin walls with disdain; Peter glanced back at the puck in the wall, and he burst into laughter. Loud, robust, grabbing-his-stomach type of laugher, practically falling to the floor.

Loki glared down at Peter, his arms crossed over his chest, "Well I'm glad you're enjoying yourself at least."

Between laughing gasps Peter responded, "You know you're supposed to make it in the hole, right? Not in the wall."

Loki glowered, "Yes I'm aware of how the game works. It's not my fault you mortals have such flimsy equipment." He gestured to the puck in the wall.

Peter grinned as he straightened up, wiping some stray tears from his eyes, "I'm pretty sure that had more to do with your Asgardian strength than faulty equipment, Loki."

Loki hummed in response, still managing to look dignified and above everything and everyone around him. Peter was in awe of the way Loki held himself, always, no matter where he was, he seemed so regal, even now in a closed, dark, cheap arcade, he looked fit to rule a kingdom. "That may be so, though I still think your mortal machinery is absolutely pathetic."

Peter shook his head, a smile still in place as he retrieved the puck out of the wall and threw it back on the table, which was now powered down once again. "Well, why don't we call this one a draw? I'm afraid this hockey table is on it's last leg with us around. Besides, I have a great idea." Peter tried his best to hide his anxiety, he tried to look as relaxed and at ease as Loki seemed, but he was sure it was no use; his nervousness always found a way to leak out of his body. He finally stopped fussing and just spit the words out, "I was thinking we could play Dance Dance Revolution."

"Are you asking me to dance, Parker?" That mischievous glint was back, lighting up Loki's already gorgeous bright green eyes, and the corner of his mouth lifted in that smirk that could cut steel.

Peter's stomach flipped, and he pretty much accepted that this was going to happen all the time if Loki always talked like that, and looked at him like that. "What, no! That's not- I didn't- there's not even anywhere to dance, not like that, I mean it's an arcade! I definitely didn't mean dancing _with_ me, like that. Not that I'm against that, I just hadn't meant that kind of thing, I wouldn't even know where to go for that, you know? I mean-" Peter finally cut off for a breath, and brought his gaze back to Loki's, just watching him intently, not seeming annoyed or judging, just listening. Peter felt his face go warm with embarrassment. "Just, follow me." Peter turned and led the way through the arcade, trying not to replay that word vomit over and over again in his head. "This is Dance Dance Revolution."

Loki strode around the front of the large flashing game, examining it with that same unimpressed look he always wore. He finally turned his gaze back to Peter's, "Well, it does look slightly less primitive than the other games."

Peter couldn't help the small smile, but he still managed to roll his eyes at the typical answer. He found himself genuinely enjoying Loki's slightly judgmental attitude; the dry humour and contempt he had for everything was fun, but Peter wasn't sure many others would feel the same. "You talk a lot of shit for someone who hasn't won a single game tonight."

Loki glowered at Peter, "I would have won the hockey game if your planet didn't have such cheap materials."

"Sure, let's just try not to break anything this time, do you think that's manageable?"

"You know I'm the God of Mischief right, breaking things is kind of what I do."

Peter glanced at him as he punched things into the game, Loki leaning languidly against the machine, his dark hair falling around his face perfectly, his sharp eyes watching everything, taking in every detail of Peter. "Oh, I'm well aware." His voice came out quietly, like he was out of breath. He watched Loki's smile stretch across his sculpted face, and Peter shook his head slightly and forced his gaze back on the screen.

 _Focus, Peter, Jesus what is wrong with you tonight?_ He tried to shake the weird feeling clinging to him, he felt like his heart had hit the bottom of his stomach and was lost for good. He managed to enter all of their info and proceeded to coach Loki in the basics of the game, who of course was eventually waving him off and assuring him he easily understood such basic concepts.

Peter started the game up, hopping around slightly to get warmed up, his blood thrumming with excitement. Peter loved this stuff, anything that allowed him to get out all of his pent up energy. From dancing to gymnastics, any of it where his mind melted away and his body took over, the muscles moving of their own accord and he could just lose himself in the feeling.

The music took off, and Peter was bouncing, quickly and gracefully from one foot to the other, hitting the buttons perfectly and keeping his body loose and relaxed while he did it. He had to work hard to focus on his own screen and not turn all of his attention to watch Loki, but he was able to catch glimpses of him. He seemed to be keeping up okay, but the concept was something that took a minute to get the hang of, even for a very talented god.

"I hope we can still be friends when I win!" Peter called over the loud music, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"That's big talk coming from a child" Even without looking at him, Peter could hear the smirk in his tone, and he loved every second of this, the thrill of the challenge, the way his heart beat extra hard when he looked into those gleaming green eyes, the way the world seemed to be asleep and only they existed here, in this infinite night together.

The scores dinged on the screen, and Loki was finally seeming to get a hang of the whole thing, not needing long to catch on and learn the semantics of the game. Peter couldn't help himself any longer and he stole a glance over at the God, watching his slim body move on the dance floor. He stepped over all the right spots, turning and jumping perfectly. and surprisingly putting his own flare on some of the moves, his focus undividable from the screen. Peter was not so focused, as only this small glance at Loki completely threw him off of his game, he felt his insides flip, and then the noises faded to the background as he let his smile spread and watched Loki, who looked so happy, his guard gone and his eyes full of light, he couldn't look away, more importantly, he didn't want to.

But when Loki seemed to realize what was happening, he shot Peter a strange look, and Peter snapped back to himself all at once, he spun his gaze toward the game as he felt his cheeks heating up.

The game was coming to a close, and luckily Peter was just edging back to first place since he'd so carelessly fell behind. The adrenaline was coursing fast now, he tuned out everything but the screen in front of him and let his body completely take over for him. And just as the song wound down, the last steps flashed across the screen, and Peter nailed the ending.

The screen compared their scores, and Peter whooped with joy as he edged past Loki by a handful of points, Peter jumped in the air, fists pumping above his edge, his heart pumping loud now that he's stopped dancing so vigorously. He finally locked eyes with Loki, who had been watching him quietly, and he thought he caught an odd look on his face, but before he could identify it, his features shifted into a mocking look of irritation. Peter ignored it, thinking he was just too hopped up and seeing things incorrectly, he continued to whoop with joy as he looked at the annoyed God.

The heat of the room finally managed to pierce through Peter's awareness, he could feel the sweat under his suit, his hair sticking to his forehead and his pulse pounding in his neck, but he didn't care about any of it, didn't have a single care in the world as he stood there, beaming at Loki, even as the trickster scowled at him. Peter would happily spend his days being scowled at by Loki.

His heart seems to skip a beat at the thought and he nervously runs a hand through his messy hair, his smile turning sheepish. "So, um yeah, that's the game! You didn't do too bad for your first time, ya know."

"Hmm, and to think I was really hoping to be regarded as the best of your Midgardian arcades, your people would likely have worshiped me as their king shortly thereafter." Loki said dryly.

"Are you sure you aren't the God of Overactive Imagination?"

"You'd be surprised how often imagination and mischief go hand in hand." His tone seemed to drip with some other meaning Peter couldn't grasp, the way Loki's gaze seemed to be sizing him up set his already frayed nerves on fire.

Peter let out a feathery chuckle, sounding much less confident than he wanted to, "Well, let me give you some pointers then." He walked around so he stood in front of Loki, the God still watching him curiously. "Okay, you obviously know how to dance already, you've got all the basics down now."

Peter ignored the look on Loki's face, the raised eyebrow, the corner of his mouth pulling up in that damned smirk, his emerald eyes dancing with sharp amusement, okay so Peter ignored his whole face and kept focused on his own instructions.

"You have to keep your body loose, just relax, let your body take over the movements, and keep your mind focused on the screen, move lightly, jumping from foot to foot quickly, and don't get wrapped up in the beats you miss, you can't fix your past mistakes, just move forward." Even while trying to ignore him, Peter saw Loki's gaze sharpen in the corner of his eye and he cleared his throat before continuing, "Okay, follow with me, come on!"

Peter stood in front of Loki and imitated the game movements, looking almost like he was in a boxer pose as he lightly bounced on his feet. He was watching Loki move with him for a bit, they were bouncing in the same rhythm, Loki keeping up easily. Peter sped up, trying to see how long they could keep this up, and his gaze slipped up Loki, finding its way to his smug face, staring intently at him as well. They sped up, the air in the room taking on a tension Peter wasn't sure he'd ever felt before, the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing as they continued bouncing around. Their reverie caused a chill to race up Peter's spine, and he was the first one to break away from their little mock dance off.

"Okay, I think you've got that covered…" He walked around the machine, using his shortness of breath as an excuse to avoid more eye contact.

"So, rematch?" Peter wondered if everything Loki said held a challenge, or if he saved it for Peter alone. "Or are you too afraid of my newfound arcade prowess?"

Peter let out a surprised laugh as he found his way back onto his platform, "Bring it on."

* * *

"All hail the King of the Arcade!" Peter exclaimed as he lifted Loki's hand, pretending to present him to a nonexistent audience, even making roaring noises and providing the commentary as well.

Loki held his same amused look as the younger one bounced around excitedly. This really hadn't been how the God imagined spending his night, and he really ought to have left by now, if he were being honest, he shouldn't have gone anywhere near this kid, he should've gotten the hell out of dodge the moment Peter showed up at the bar, But Loki was never good at doing what he was supposed to.

When Peter finally settled down he looked at Loki expectantly, "So, what do you think? Exclusive arcade expeditions are pretty fun, right?"

"I'm not sure I'd call it an expedition, but it wasn't too bad… For Midgard." Loki let the corners of his mouth turn into a small smile as the boy seemed to beam at him.

Peter glanced behind Loki, and then he did a double take, "Shit! It's that late already? If we don't get back soon Tony will probably send out a search party." Peter began frantically looking around for his mask, looking panicked and going a mile a minute. Loki leaned back and enjoyed the scene.

"Crap crap crap… Hey." He whipped back around to look at Loki with a disarming gaze that made Loki itch to do something, though he wasn't sure what, "How did you sneak out anyway? Do you think they know you're out?" The color drained from his already stricken face, "You don't think Tony knows we're out.. Right?"

Loki was tempted to make Peter sweat about it a little bit, just to hear that high pitched frayed voice of his again, but he dismissed it as too easy. "Highly unlikely, the illusion I left would fool my own brother, and anyhow if Tony knew we were missing I'm certain we'd have heard from him by now."

"Right, right, you're right of course." Peter continued to scramble around and unplug the machines, careful to avoid the only camera positioned on the cash register, and in general looking as though he were close to losing his dinner. Loki finally took pity and cast a small spell, unplugging everything and even flipping the breakers so it all looked exactly as it had when they arrived.

Peter jerked to a stop and his shoulders seemed to lose a bit of their tension, and Loki did another spell to call the spider mask to him from its place atop the air hockey machine.

"Looking for this?" Loki tossed it over to Peter, who caught it easily, even in the dark as they were.

"Uh, yeah… Thanks." Peter played with the edge of his mask before finally slipping it on. Loki held out a hand to him, unable to stop himself from doing whatever he could to gain the beautiful look of surprise from the smaller boy, the look of pure awe that he glimpsed as they flew through the city. Even as a raven Loki could see the shock and the wonder in his bright eyes, and he felt certain that he could happily drown in those eyes. Peter seemed to turn a bit timid, but he reached out and took Loki's hand anyhow.

"Shall we go home?"


	7. Peter Brings Home A Friend

Peter looked over the city, his home, and watched the sun rise, painting the sky and the buildings with vivid splashes of color, stretching out over everything, a blanket of light. It was an incredible sight, and he couldn't even keep his gaze focused on it, because sitting beside him on the edge of the helicopter pad at the top of the Avengers Tower, was Loki, a Prince (a literal Prince, for crying out loud) of Asgard.

Peter could barely sit still, his hands moving from a fidget in his lap, to running through his hair, pulling his legs beneath him and then crossing them and uncrossing them. He could tell he was a ball of energy, despite having done so much throughout the night, Loki just seemed to dig up undiscovered depths of nerves and liveliness from him.

They sat there in silence, watching the sun inch higher, and as lovely as the whole scene was, Peter was starting to feel like the silence was choking him. There was too much pent up worry and unanswered questions crawling under his skin. He couldn't sit still, and he could feel the silence sitting on his chest with the pressure of a car, until it finally forced words out of his mouth, and breath out of his lungs., "Well?" He let out a light laugh, getting used to his voice after so much quiet. " What did I tell you, the sunrise from up here is unbeatable."

Loki gave Peter a side glance that he felt in his bones, "I suppose Earth has its moments."

Peter let out a real laugh at that, and gave a slight push to Loki's shoulder, "You are never going to give in easily, are you?"

Loki flashed him a sharp smile, a glint of humor in his eyes, "Not likely, no."

Peter gave a mock sigh of irritation, never once losing his smile. Getting to his feet, he held his hand out for Loki, which Loki ignored as he stood up by himself. "Alright, we should head back inside now before Tony starts looking for one of us."

"You're the boss." Loki said sardonically.

Peter couldn't help the nervous chuckle, but still managed to give Loki an eye roll, "Alright alright, how are you getting back in, anyway?"

"Ah well, maybe I'll just saunter back in and see what happens."

Peter gave a small laugh at that, but when Loki gave no response, Peter's eyes quickly snapped back up at him and felt the rising spark of anxiety when he realized he had no clue if Loki was joking or being serious.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Peter said, suddenly frozen to his spot as he watched Loki casually lean over the side of the building and look around.

Loki glanced up at the tone of Peter's voice, but he didn't seem nearly as concerned as he should, in fact, he seemed to be finding Peter's reaction amusing.

"What's the matter Parker? Worried I'll get you in trouble?" Loki looked him over with a sharp smile, his voice sounding deep and vaguely threatening.

"No…" Peter dragged the word out, his thoughts moving too fast to land on a good answer. What was he afraid of? Tony finding out? He definitely wouldn't be happy, but it's not as if he could even ground Peter at this point. Still, he knows how pissed Tony would be, and more importantly, how hurt he'll be, worried, disappointed. Peter has caused enough of that for a lifetime.

But more than that, Peter didn't want Loki in trouble either. Tony was just looking for an excuse to kick him out, and he was clearly there for a reason, for his safety or because of something that was happening to him. Peter didn't want Loki out there, in danger and alone with whatever it was he was dealing with.

And, Peter may have been being a little selfish in that he didn't want to lose the chance to get to know Loki, to hang out with him. If they got caught, either one, Tony was going to latch down on the security and they'd never see each other again.

Peter took in a deep breath, realizing he had been quiet for a bit longer than what's considered a reasonable amount of time. "I just don't want to give Tony another reason to act like an asshole."

Loki chuckled at that, "Does he ever need a reason?"

Peter rubbed at the back of his neck with a small smile, feeling a bit proud at being able to make Loki laugh, even if it didn't seem like his smiles ever reached all the way to his eyes, it's something. "So, you maybe wanna revisit that plan of yours?"

Loki rolled his eyes lightly, "I hadn't given much thought to the getting back in bit"

"Well getting back in is going to be a lot more complicated, it's more of a fortress, than a prison, after all."

"For you maybe." Loki spoke the words softly, but they still had an edge to them.

Peter winced and soldiered on,"My point is, it's much easier sneaking out then it is to sneak in, it's warded and protected and literally full of heroes."

"Believe it or not, I've faced worse than your boy band of superheroes." Loki looked at Peter, dragging his gaze away from the building underneath them, and had a curious light in his eyes, "And how is it you get back in, anyhow? Just swing yourself into the front door?"

"Oh- um no, I go through my bedroom window."

Loki raised a single brow at him, "You just slip through the window of some impenetrable fortress?" He definitely said the last bit with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"I-, no that's not exactly, I mean my suit has an AI like FRIDAY, I call her Karen, and they're programmed together so my suit has access and can open my window from the outside. So yeah, it's still an impenetrable fortress, which you still don't have access too. " Peter began pacing some time during his ramble and he stopped abruptly running a hand through his hair as he stared at Loki and tried to keep his heart in his chest, where it belonged.

Loki looked at him with that smile Peter was beginning to think of as a bad omen, "Well, Peter, aren't you going to invite me to your room?" Loki tilted his head slightly, that smile shining in the morning light like a beacon, and Peter had a vague thought about moths, but it was gone just as quickly as it had come.

* * *

Loki wasn't sure why he was here. From the moment Thor had swooped in, throwing his hammer about, to the second that he left him on the Avengers doorstep, Loki had wanted nothing to do with it. He hadn't wanted to leave, he wanted to stay and fight through every single person who stood in his way, he wanted blood and vengeance. He wanted justice. Instead, he was being babysat, treated like a burden and a villian.

And then he wasn't any of those things. He was playing air hockey, he was racing across a city, and he was watching a sunrise in comfortable silence.

And somehow this all led to the moment he flew across the city air as a hummingbird, landing across a window seal of the Avengers Tower, following a younger man who seemed to be one of the very few who looked at Loki's magic with awe instead of fear or distaste.

Loki flew into the room and transformed back to his regular form in a fluid motion, coming to stand in the middle of the expansive space.

He glanced around easily, taking in everything, from the exit points and any makeshift weapons, to the dirty clothes tossed about and the textbooks. Peter stood by the window, his mask in his hands now as he raked a wide eyed gaze over Loki, a glint of wonder in his brown eyes.

The God had always taken a perverse sense of enjoyment from making people uncomfortable, especially with his magic. He loved making a show with it, large flourishes of power that weren't always necessary, just to see the way it set people on edge.

Once Loki realized he could never gain the trust or admiration of his people on Asgard, not like Thor had, he'd stopped trying. He would always be cast as a villain in their eyes, no matter what he did with his magic, he was always too much, too different. So he also stopped playing it safe, he'd stopped doing party tricks with his magic, he stopped fighting the image they cast for him, and the lines between who he was, and the role they casted him in, began to blur.

He'd stopped being ashamed of how people looked at him, how they shrunk away in fear at his displays of magic, how they turned in disgust, or looked at him with malice. Soon he realized the power in this, how he could take control of it, force a reaction from everyone with a simple turn of magic, a small display and he could feel the tensions rise, and manipulate the situation. If they wanted to fear and despise him, he'd rise to the challenge.

But Peter, he was different. Loki hadn't run into many people who could surprise him, but somehow, Peter of all people had caught him off guard. Every bit of magic he used seemed to utterly delight the boy. He wasn't afraid, he wasn't even concerned, he was mesmerized. He was curious, and not in a primal way, but in an innocent fascinated way. It terrified Loki. He felt out of control, he felt lost in a world he didn't know. Of course, these days Loki felt lost more often than not.

Peter was moving now, scrambling about the room and throwing things around, cleaning up the desk, tossing the loose clothes into a basket, webbing up random things as he moved about the room, putting them away, and Loki finally focused on his chatter, "I don't really get a lot of time for cleaning between all the Avengers things, plus I don't really get much company here anyway. I mean, there's Ned, Ned comes over a good bit, but it's just Ned, not to mention if you took one look at Ned's room you'd probably get stuck and be lost to the world, and um yeah…" He trailed off awkwardly and seemed to draw himself to a stop by his desk, looking Loki over and trying to nonchalantly sit on his desk, resulting in almost falling off of said desk.

Loki watched the whole spectacle with nothing more than a look of silent impatience, and when the boy seemed to truly stop, Loki started to peruse the charming little room.

Most of it was what you'd expect from a college student, between some really weird posters of things Loki had never heard of hanging on the walls, to the mess littering the place, a computer desk piled with papers and a laptop, a bookshelf with a lot of books, including some thick looking textbooks which caused Loki to raise an eyebrow at, especially considering the rows of comic books they were placed beside. His dresser was scattered with random little objects and Loki let his hand play over them, some strange figurines, some weird spinning looking object that looked kind of like fan blades, 3 circles that spun around a center while you held it. Then Loki noticed the bulletin board behind the desks, pinned with some photos.

Loki leaned in to investigate them farther, a picture with an older woman, she looked like maybe a mother? She had her arms around Peter and a big smile on her face, while Peter had a large gown on and a cap, holding a square of paper with words Loki couldn't quiet read.

"Ah, that was my high school graduation. Oh and that's my Aunt May." Peter's voice suddenly came from just off to the side of Loki, having moved around his desk to stand by him.

"Why are you wearing a robe?" Loki asked dryly.

"Oh uh." Peter let out a small laugh, more like a puff of air, which Loki could feel against his neck, "That's a graduation gown, it's an Earth thing I guess." Peter pointed to the other photo, leaning close enough so that his chest was brushing against Loki's back. "And this is when Tony gave me the internship, May insisted on taking a picture." Loki ignored the feel of Peter so close to him and instead, focused on the picture. It was of Peter and Tony shaking hands in a small looking apartment, Tony putting his other hand on Peters shoulder, Peter's smile looking genuine, but also very nervous, "Little did she know the 'Internship', was actually me going to Germany and helping fight Captain America and a whole slew of other superheroes." Peter said it in kind of an exasperated tone, but Loki saw nothing but joy in his face as he seemed to relive the memory.

Loki looked to the next photo, Peter smiling over a birthday cake that read 18, with May hugging him from behind, Tony, a small smile on his face as he stood a bit farther away, hands in the pockets of his dress pants, trying to look nonchalant, but Loki could see the way he looked at Peter, it gave away everything. And there was everyone, Steve, Natasha, Clint, even Thor was there, a goofy smile as he towered over most everyone.

Loki hated the stab of jealousy that went through him, how this kid had more family then he knew what to do with, one member of which was Loki's actual family. Loki had never known this level of closeness, not with his own brother, or any of his own people. Loki wanted it, and at the same time, he loathed it.

Loki could feel Peter's gaze burning into the side of his face, so he dragged his own gaze away from the image and locked eyes with the younger kid, wearing his usual cold mask as he did so. Peter didn't flinch, didn't shy away, just kept staring back at him.

"I hope I helped get you out of your head for a little while." Peter spoke quietly and started fidgeting again, "I know I uh had fun."

Loki's eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed, once again caught off guard by Peter's seemingly genuine demeanor, confused and still a bit untrusting of it. As much as he tried finding a new way through life, Loki couldn't seem to claw past the suspicious, untrusting nature that's buried so deep within. He looks back to the wall of pictures, the glow on this kids face, the family he let in, probably without a second thought. Loki could feel Peter's fidgeting beside him, his growing anxiety practically palpable. "Do you ever stop moving?" Loki asked dryly.

"Oh well uh, yeah you know, sometimes… When I'm sleeping, mostly." Peter tried to casually put his hands on his hips, seemed to decide better of it and crossed his arms in front of his chest, twitching slightly before settling into the position with a slight wince.

Loki let out a tired sigh as he wondered for probably the hundredth time that night, what am I doing?

He moved away from the wall, pointedly not looking at the other boys face as he makes his way towards the bedroom door, "Well, I suppose I should probably get back to my cell before they notice my absence and send for a manhunt."

"Oh, oh yeah, you're probably right." Loki could feel the disappointment coming from behind him, and he ignores the feeling under his ribs, like a splinter lodging somewhere deep. After so many years, one would think he'd get used to disappointing people.

Before Loki could reach the door, Peter made a sudden noise, and he flung himself across the room. Loki raised an eyebrow at him as he practically trips over himself in order to make it to the door and open it for Loki, all traces of the disappointment gone, replaced by an easy smile.

"Do you know your way back to your room? I know this place is pretty big and you've never really been inside, well not since it was Stark Tower, and-"

Loki ignored his rambling, walking past him to head out the door, but as soon as he crossed the threshold and looked to his left, he caught sight of a figure just as they turned the corner, looking up as he walked right towards them, and Loki locked eyes with Tony Stark.


	8. Loki Does What Hes Best At

Loki hasn't done this 'hero' thing for very long. In fact, he wouldn't say he'd been doing it at all. He was just living, not following anyone else's rules, not listening to anyone else's opinions of who he should be, of what he should be doing. He was living his life for himself, not the kingdom that denied him, or the father who rejected him, the mother he lost, or the brother who wanted so much from him.

Sometimes that was easy, looking for trouble and following his own path, his own rules. But sometimes, every path before him blurred until he was lost in the space between who he is and who he used to be. Hero, villain, savior, murderer, good, evil, he didn't know where he belonged, or what he was. What he did know was what he was good at. Tricking people, manipulation, illusions, and playing the part.

So when he saw Tony Stark rounding the corner, a few seconds was all he needed before instinct kicked in and he was shifting, becoming a different face, a different person, until Stark looked up and only saw what Loki wanted him to see; Steve Rogers standing outside of Peter's room.

Tony walked up with a cellphone in hand, eyeing Loki/Steve with a hard stare, which Loki immediately filed away for later. Loki could hear Peter next to him, still just inside his room, sputtering a bit as he stared at Loki's newest illusion.

Loki had no time to warn him as Tony finally stepped up, glancing away from Loki/Steve to take in the gawking Peter, "Peter…" Tony raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two of them, "I was wondering if I could borrow you?"

"Oh, um actually, I uh-", Peter was stumbling, his gaze flicking wildly between the two of them, and Loki tried desperately to send an encouraging look his way, but he was pretty sure it came off more aggressive than anything, so Loki changed tactics and did what he does best; manipulate.

"Actually, Tony." Loki's voice comes out in Steve's steeley tone, channeling all of that righteousness that he knows drives Tony crazy. And just like clockwork, Tony's gaze flicks over to Loki/Steve, their eyes meet in a heated moment of matching looks. Tony, daring him to go there, daring him to even try to issue a challenge, and Steve; refusing to be intimidated, refusing to ever back down. "I think Peter could use a break."

"A break from what exactly?" A muscle in Tony's jaw flexed, his eyes still fixed in a silent match between the two.

"A break from everything, Tony." Loki said it just right, enough to leave a message hanging in the air, a break from you.

A vicious smile cut across Tony's face, and Loki knew he had hit the nerve just right, and he fought his own smile of satisfaction as he held the disguise, bracing for a fight to come.

"I don't recall you being in charge of my schedule, Cap." Tony spoke the last word like an insult, flinging it at the ground between them. "I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to talk to whomever I choose, whenever I want to."

"Yeah, that sounds about right, what's best for everyone else doesn't matter when it comes to what Tony fucking Stark wants.."

"Uh, guys?" Peter's uncertain voice cut through the heavy tension, and both of them felt it, but still they didn't break away from the other's hard gaze.

"Trust me, Rogers, you have no idea what I want." Something flashes behind Tony's eyes, a brief light that's gone before Loki can even interpret it.

"Okay okay, it's fine, I'll uh, I can talk with Tony it's fine, just stop fighting." Peter's voice was tight and a little too high.

Loki finally pulled his gaze from Tony's, flicking his eyes to Peter's, still holding his mask in place. He gives a nod, trying to give some encouragement through Steve's eyes. "Okay, but you should get some rest soon."

Loki watches Tony roll his eyes, "Isn't there a nursing home you're meant to be at or something?"

Loki gives a half hearted glare in response, then looks over to hold Peter's gaze for another few seconds, taking in the way he's moving his hands like he doesn't know what to do with them, shifting his weight back and forth and eyeing both of the guys in front of him. The way Peter constantly gets flustered and nervous is kind of amusing, Loki thinks absently before turning and heading down the hallway, leaving them to their conversation.

Loki heads down the hall, casting one last glance over his shoulder and see's Peter awkwardly wave at him, and Loki can't help himself as he gives him another mischievous grin just before turning the corner.

As soon as Loki feels he's a safe distance away, he shifts back to himself. Feeling his hair grow against his neck and he cracks his neck lightly as the muscles lighten and change back to his own lean limbs.

He walks through the mostly empty corridors of the Avengers Tower, early morning light coming through some of the occasional windows, and the nights events drift through his mind. It was surprisingly easy to let go of everything and just relax for a while, ignore life for a bit. But in the expansive halls of unfamiliar territory, the silence seeping from the walls, the haze of sleepiness starting to settle into him, Loki was starting to let the world seep back in, his mind wandering of its own volition.

Images that are burned into Loki's mind springing to life behind his eyes, a light smile with bright blue eyes, full of life and love, a desire to be great, and an insecurity that he never will be. Loki feels a sharp pang in his chest, a constant ache.

He found his room soon, stumbled inside and checked the place out for the first time. His gaze barely registered any of it though, his mind still fighting to pull him under, the wave of darkness that seems to be his only companion these days, crashing against his restraints.

Loki can feel his muscles, tight with exhaustion, and his mind was not far off. He leans his hands against the cold counter island in the little kitchen and glares at the bed across the room. The place is set up like a little studio apartment, small kitchen, little dining area, bed off to the side, with a closed off bathroom.

Loki leaned his head down against the cool counter, letting his eyes slide close, and tried to focus on the biting cold against his forehead, but as soon as the darkness settles around his vision, he can feel the blood on his hands, hear his own voice shouting in his ears, he sees the young boy moving, and Loki is stuck, he can't move he can't do anything, he screams.

Loki jerks his head up, eyes opening and he stalks his way over to the bathroom, scowling at the bed as he finds his way into the shower instead.

* * *

Tony stepped out of Peter's room not much longer after he'd gotten there, just needing a bit of info on some of the bad guys he'd taken down lately. He'd thought about broaching the Loki subject again, wanting to try and explain that he was really just trying to protect the kid, and not even necessarily from Loki, as much as Tony absolutely didn't trust the trickster, it wasn't even about that. But Tony took one look at Peter, his yawning and his heavy eyelids and decided they could talk more later.

Tony looked over his phone as he walked the familiar halls, rearranging some files and adding some of the new info he'd gotten. Tony wasn't really paying attention to what he was doing until he looked up and realized he was standing right outside of Steve's room.

Tony swore under his breath, turning to leave immediately, when FRIDAY's voice came from above, "Sir, should I let Roger's know that you're at his door?"

Tony visibly grimaced and looked up at the ceiling, cursing every AI in the entire world, and he is positive FRIDAY did that on purpose. And when Steve's door opens and he pokes his head out, looking like he just rolled out of bed, Tony is silently threatening to completely reprogram FRIDAY.

"Tony? Is everything alright?" He runs a hand through his tousled hair, and god dammit Tony can feel his gut twist because sleepy Steve is a sight to behold, and his tone is concerned and warm, and Tony quickly pushes past the thought, focusing instead on how infuriating the man is.

"Everything's peachy, Sleeping Beauty, go back to bed, we can talk later." he turns to leave, hoping to cut this whole disaster short, but then there's a hand on his arm, pulling him up short.

"Wait Tony, what did you want?" Steve sounds so genuine, so concerned, and so very different from the pissed off version Tony saw earlier.

Tony turns and finds Steve looking at him, searching his face for something, those blue eyes meeting his own. Tony's mind flashes back for a second, to Steve standing over him, face a mess, breathing labored, his shield sticking out of Tony's chest.

He feels his jaw tighten at the memory, pulling back a step from Steve and absentmindedly rubbing at his chest. Tony has had a long time to get over it all, and he has mostly, the fights, the accords, Bucky. Tony's made a lot of bad choices, bad calls throughout his lifetime, and at least half of them haunt him at night, all the people he's hurt, all the people he's gotten killed. He has wrestled for a long time between understanding Steve and being betrayed, knowing he was just trying to do what he thought was right, always trying to do what's right, and yet...

"Why are you pushing so hard for Peter to have a playdate? Especially considering it's with a known criminal." The words are coming out before Tony has even finished the thought.

Steve's eyebrows bunch together in annoyance, his eyes squinting at Tony like he can't believe they're talking about this right now. "Why are you so incapable of trusting or forgiving people?"

The words hit Tony hard, and he's giving a humourless laugh, already regretting ever bringing it up, "Maybe when people stop proving me right." The words come out bitter on his tongue.

"Tony, I-" Steve starts, but Tony knows that look, he knows that tone, and he can't. He can't stand here and listen to Steve explain why he had to do it, he had to help Bucky, how he had to do something, how he can't just sit on the sidelines when someone needs help.

"I really can't convey just how much I don't want to hear your Moral Obligations Schtick right now." Tony snaps before Steve can continue, feeling like all the carefully buried emotions are churning under his skin, howling with the desire to spill out.

Steve lets out a hard sigh, his gaze burning with something as he stares right back at Tony. "What do you want from me, Tony?" His voice is hard and loud, he looks just as mad as Tony feels, and he's glad for it, glad that he's not the only one feeling torn up.

"I want a lot of things Cap, world peace, that would be pretty great, maybe a team that knew how to pick up after themselves, but from you?" Tony doesn't remember doing it, but suddenly he's standing right in front of Rogers, close enough that he can make out the flecks of green in his eyes, and he can feel his breath brushing against skin, "I want you to stop pretending that nothing happened, like you didn't leave, like you didn't choose him over-" Tony breaks off abruptly, breath coming hard.

Steve studies him closely, the anger gone but some sort of heat still searing in his blue eyes, "Choose him over what, Tony?" Steve asks softly.

Tony feels like they're on the edge of something, some sort of tipping point, and he doesn't know what's on the other side, doesn't know if he even wants any part of it, but with Steve staring at him like that, he feels like it's a challenge, a race to see who will back down first. And Tony is a stubborn mother fucker.

"You choose him over me, Rogers, god damn. I was your friend too, I-" Tony rubs a hand over his face, feeling everything inside of him twisting and hating himself for it.

"And I came back, Tony. You called, and I answered, and I stayed." Tony looks up to see an earnest look on Steve's face, and it honestly makes him want to punch him in his stupid perfect teeth.

"God you are so fucking annoying." Tony bites out, eyes catching on his smooth lips.

"And you're an asshole." Steve says it with a glint in his eye that makes a puddle of heat start in the bottom of Tony's gut. They're just standing there, breathing hard and crowded in each others space, and Tony watches those blue eyes glance over his face, marking a trail from his own eyes down to his mouth, and Tony doesn't know how it happens, he's not sure who moved first, but suddenly their mouths are sliding against each other.

Steve's tongue is tracing Tony's bottom lip lightly, and his hand is running through his hair, scratching lightly against his scalp as they press into each other. It's all so much, and yet it's not enough at the same time, Tony is working hard to focus on the feel of Steve's waist under his hands, refusing to let his thoughts surface beyond the lean muscle under his fingers, beyond the light groans of pleasure coming out of his own mouth.

Steve is pulling his hair lightly, and now there are teeth against lips and they're moving, Steve is pulling him through the door, and closing it behind him, and now he's got Tony up against it, pinning him in with his own body, pressing up flush against him. Steve's mouth leaves his own and starts trailing across Tony's jaw, leaving open mouth kisses and he starts biting at his neck lightly, breathing hard into Tony's ear, causing a moan to escape his lips before he can think better of it.

"God, Tony." Steve moans into Tony's ear, Steve Fucking Rogers moaning his name, and the reality of the situation seems to catch up with him, permiating the fog of Tony's mind. Tony stops in his tracks, pulling his hands away from Steve's waist, and the feeling in the air seems to shift with the movement, Steve picks up on it and takes a step back.

Both of them are just standing there in the sudden quiet, their laboured breathing the only real sound in the room. Tony's mind is trying to catalog the sight in front of him, Captain America with messy hair and swollen lips from kissing, looking at him with concern, and maybe something else that Tony can't make out, and it just doesn't make sense.

Nothing about this makes any sense to him, from the desperate and rumpled version of Steve standing there in front of him, looking impossibly vulnerable, so opposite from the self righteous hero he knows, down to his own erection straining against his jeans.

"Tony?" Steve's voice cuts through the room softly, but it still feels like a gunshot to Tony's ears. He can't do this, he can't handle any of this right now.

"I don't know what game you're playing Rogers, but be careful you don't start something you can't finish."

And with that, he turns and walks out of the room, not looking back. And when he lies awake at night, images playing in his mind of Steve's mouth against his, and the way those strong hands felt in his hair, or the way his name sounded in that mouth, well Tony would die a bloody painful death before ever admitting it, but he thinks he might just have a thing for Captain America.

* * *

 **Notes**

Hey Guys! I just wanted to say thank you all for the favorites, follows, and reviews, they mean the world to me! I hope you're liking the story so far, I'm hoping to keep updating even faster now with my new job!

I had a few questions for you all! What do you think Peter/Loki's ship name should be? I haven't seen anything for one online so I've been thinking about them, I'm leaning towards Leter lol, my boyfriend is voting for Spoki Man though

Also, are you guys enjoying the Stony bits? Or should I just cut it out? I'm not immersed as deeply in their ship and so I feel a bit unprepared to write them but I also love them and wanted a touch of it. Do you think I should keep them going or fade their stuff to the background and focus on Loki/Peter? Just let me know!

Thanks again, you have all been lovely 3 Also, you're welcome to follow/reach out to me on tumblr! .com


	9. Peter Goes to Game Night

It's been about a week since the arcade outing, and Peter almost feels like it was all a fever dream, the idea of it alone seeming unreal. He relives the entire outing constantly, going back and forth between elation and anxiety about the whole thing. His mind can't seem to decide what to make of the interaction, but that doesn't stop the skip of his heart whenever he thinks he might hear Loki enter the room, or his falling smile when he realizes it's just Clint.

He knows it's not very likely to just run into him around the Tower, never mind how huge it is, but Tony is still trying his damnedest to keep them at opposite ends of the place. Not that it's working very well, Peter's already had his suit help establish loopholes with FRIDAY. But he hadn't expected to go from a night of adventures just to have it drop off into absolutely mind-numbing normalcy like this.

He literally played air hockey with Loki, the guy who tried to destroy the city he lives in, and now he's going around doing night patrols and working in the lab with Bruce, and hanging out with Ned like nothing has changed.

Peter leans back in his desk chair, stretching so far back he looks at his room upside down, groaning loudly to the empty room, hoping maybe he can expel his boredom through loud noises. He scrubs his hands through his hair and rubs at his tired eyes, finally straightening out before he breaks his desk chair.

He stands up and closes his laptop, needing a break from the bright screen and instead he turns to look out of his big windows, taking in the sprawling view of New York, just over the tops of the other buildings.

"We're a long way from Queens, Toto." Peter mutters to himself, and then something catches his gaze, up above the city. A sleek and dark bird taking flight over the buildings, going up toward the sky.

Peter knows, he can't explain how, but he just knows that it's Loki, and he feels a grin spread over his face, and before he can think it through, he's thrown his suit on and starts climbing out of his window.

When he reaches the top of the tower, he sees Loki standing there leaning against one of the many pieces of architecture jutting out of the roof, his arms crossed as he looks out over the city, looking way like the Cool Guy™ straight out of an older romance movie, and the situation is starting to catch up with Peter as he feels the dip of doubt in his stomach.

But, he swallows his anxiety, as best he can at least, squares his shoulders and lets the mask disappear as he walks towards the man he's starting to think of as his friend.

"Hey." Peter tries, but his voice sounds cracked and rough from being holed up in his room doing research for most of the day. He clears his throat around his embarrassment, but Loki just barely flicks his gaze in his direction before turning back to the view.

"Something I can help you with?" Loki's voice is cold, distant, and it sends a chill of dread up Peter's spine as his mind starts racing, pairing up with his anxiety and running away.

"Oh well, I just thought- well I saw you come up here, and uh…" Peter trails off awkwardly as he stares at Loki, who's turned to look at him with something almost like his usual sneer, but his eyes are sharper, missing that gleam of amusement they often carry. The look Loki fixes him with isn't a welcoming mischievous look, it seems closer to cruel.

"And you what? Thought maybe we could chill like pals? Want to play some video games and talk about girls?" A wicked smile stretches over his face, "Or boys, perhaps?"

Peter swallows as he stares at Loki, unable to process the callous and hard eyes staring right back at him, feeling like they're wrenching something out of him.

Loki takes a step towards him, "Let me be absolutely clear about something, Parker. I am not your friend," the word friend drips with acid as he stalks closer to Peter, "I am not here to entertain some fantasy or play babysitter." Loki crowds into Peter's space, forcing him to take a step backwards, "As much fun as it's been watching you make a fool of yourself chasing some idea you've had about me, let me assure you, you're mistaken. I'm nothing more than the snake everyone believes me to be, and toying with the insects has lost its charm I'm afraid"

"Well, glad we're on the same page" Peter breaths out, the words barely more than a whisper in the silent night. He doesn't flinch away from the smirk that lights Loki's features, doesn't move out from under the weight of that stare.

"Hmm, better run along now, Parker, before you get yourself grounded" The words are full of unattached disdain as Loki steps away, turning back to his perch overlooking the rest of the city, without a single backwards glance at Peter.

Peter feels like he's detached from his body as his feet start moving backwards, his brain stuck on the image of Loki smirking down at him, cruelty lighting his features. Peter suddenly feels cold, the night air blowing across his face as he reaches the edge of the rooftop, looking over the long drop and feeling like he's already lost his stomach. He hears Loki's voice in his ears, repeating the same words, over and over and over.

Peter looks over his shoulder at the lone figure against the black night, and he speaks before he can think himself out of it, "You don't have to fight everyone, ya know. You can let some people close." His voice is a whisper in the night, and he doesn't wait around to see if Loki even heard it, instead he steps off of the roof, free falling towards the ground before catching himself on a web and swinging out into the city.

"Okay, you are definitely cheating!"

"How could I possibly cheat? I'm rolling dice, the same ones you're rolling." Clint moves his game piece, completely dodging all of Sam's bought property and rolling again.

"I don't know, but you've clearly found a way." Sam says with a narrowed gaze, which Clint just smirks at, but when Sam turns his gaze away, Clint gives Peter a wink before sipping his beer.

Peter responds with a small smile, but he's not feeling it too much, even as nice as it is to be surrounded by the team and friends at another game night. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while they get around to it.

"Barton, you better not be cheating under my roof." Tony comes out of the kitchen, a fresh drink in hand and looking over the board game with scrutiny.

Clint puts a hand to his chest, mock indignation on his face, "Me? I would never." Nat raises an eyebrow and at him from behind her glass, but Clint ignores her, "Why, you believe me, right Steve?" Clint looks at him innocently as he buys more property from him.

Steve gives a small smile while he counts out the fake money, "Well, I know Tony is quick to assume things," Steve's eyes flick to Tony, something crossing his face that Peter can't quite decipher, "but there is something to the way you've been playing tonight."

"If by assuming you mean making astute observations which lead to logical and correct conclusions, then yes, I assume a lot of things." Tony lowers himself back in his recently vacated seat, the quip rolling off his tongue quickly, but not so much as glancing at Steve as he speaks.

"Your assumptions aren't always as correct as you might think, right, Bruce?"

Steve looks at Bruce imploringly, who puts his hands up in surrender and lets out a startled little laugh. "Oh no, I'm not getting anywhere near this, this is not my area."

"What's the matter, Doc? Afraid to get in the middle of a lov-" Clint gets cut off when Nat smacks the back of his head while passing by, "Hey! What was that for?"

"I'm keeping you alive!" She calls from where she's moved deeper into the kitchen, probably grabbing some more food.

Peter looks between the team with a bit of confusion. Tony and Steve fight all the time of course, but it feels different now, it kind of seems like he's missing something. Of course, he's kind of been in his head a good bit since his run-in with Loki earlier, replaying the whole thing in his mind, like pressing at a bruise you know hurts, but being unable to stop yourself from just poking it.

He tries to bring himself back to the surface and focus on his friends, his super powered friends that are currently sitting around playing Monopoly. Because why not.

He's always loved these nights though, as silly as they might be, the few times they can get together to just hang out, where Tony finally puts his phone down for at least a few hours, and Clint messes with everyone relentlessly, and Nat actually looks relaxed for a little while, smiling with the rest of them, ruffling Peter's hair occasionally. It's these nights that really make Peter love the Tower and being a part of the Avengers. Being a part of this family.

Peter finds himself smiling at the thought, watching as Rhodey makes some kind of deal to trade with Tony, while Clint shouts something about illegal insider trading and tries to rope Banner and Sam into a protest about it, which Nat rolls her eyes about as she sits beside Peter, curling her legs underneath her.

Peter's family used to be just him and Aunt May, just the two of them, and now? He's practically been adopted by a whole league of superheros, it's kind of surreal sometimes. And now, Aunt May is with Happy, so even her side of the family is growing, which is admittedly still weird, but it's good, it's good for her, Peter's just glad she's happy.

He misses his parents of course, and his Uncle Ben always, but he's found a family that's accepted him and helped him through so much, and he's so thankful for that, for all of them. Even when they drive him crazy, and cheat at Monopoly.

"Okay, Barton, that's it, you don't get to roll any more." Tony's voice cuts through Peter's thoughts, making him and a few others laugh.

"What? Don't be such a sore loser Tony!"

"I'll get right on that as soon as you stop being a cheater." Nat snorts at that and Clint narrows his gaze in her direction.

"Oh, and what are you laughing at, Miss Banned From Playing Clue Ever Again?"

"Just because I was critiquing the accuracy-"

"You gave a detailed rant about each weapon and how they were terrible choices for trying to get away with a murder."

"I was just-"

"Detailed, Nat."

"Yeah, we'll see who you call next time you need to hide a body." Nat mutters at him mockingly, and Clint just smirks back at her.

"Alright, hotels, come to daddy." Tony downs the rest of his drink before handing his fake bills over to Steve, and Peter watches the way their hands brush as they pass them over, Tony instantly flinching his hand back, a small twitch of his features the only other hint that something happened, anyone else might've missed it, but Peter knew Tony's minuscule facial expressions well by now. Usually they were indicating that Tony wanted to kill Peter, but regardless, he'd gotten pretty good at catching the cues there.

Peter feels his brow furrow as he looks between them, seeing the way they both stiffen, Steve's face a careful mask as he gathers Tony's change to hand back to him, and this time, they're careful not to touch as they pass the money back.

No one else draws any attention to it, but Peter swears he sees a look pass between Nat and Clint, not that Clint is all that subtle about it, and Peter definitely catches the awkward look on Bruce's face, but Peter feels more confused than ever. What is even happening here?

"So…" Peter tries, feeling a bit awkward, not really even sure what his mouth is doing, as it's definitely acting without Peter's express permission. "Tony, Steve, what've you guys been up to lately?"

The room, oddly, seems to freeze for a second, most everyone kind of stops moving, and definitely stops talking, but it doesn't last long, though the air still feels really weird, almost like his spidey sense is going off, but not really? Nat seems to be trying to hide a smile, and Clint is just straight grinning, no pretense whatsoever as he leans back in his seat, looking gleeful. Rhodey is also smirking a bit, and Bruce looks slightly pained.

But Peter's attention is mainly on Tony and Steve, who seem to really pause, glancing at each other quickly, something definitely passing between the two of them, before Tony looks at Peter with his usual sarcastic expression, "Oh you know, same as usual, saving the world, protecting Earth from evil, etc. etc." Tony waves a hand in the air and pointedly looks back down at the board and seems to go about organizing his game pieces.

"Uh huh…" Peter responds, unconvinced, "And how about you Steve?" Peter takes a drink from his soda in hopes of appearing more casual about what is definitely starting to feel like an interrogation.

Steve seems to stare a hole into Tony's general direction, despite the fact that Tony seems to be ignoring him, before finally turning to Peter and responding, "Oh you know, the same old, dealing with childish jerks."

Rhodey just about does a spit take, and Sam seems to be fighting the urge to fist bump Steve, Bruce scoots his chair back a couple feet, and Tony looks up to glare at Steve fiercely, that look in his eye like he's gearing up for a good fight.

"Is this about Loki?" Peter asks, feeling like he's really being kept out of the loop here, and the only thing they've all been keeping him in the dark in is Loki, right? It's the only thing he can think of for why they're all acting weird and why he has no idea about what's going on. "Have you guys learned something new? About whatever is going on with him? Is that why you're acting weird?"

"We're not acting weird." Tony says in his usual matter of fact way. Curious people around the room snort lightly, causing Tony to glare daggers at pretty much everyone.

"No you're definitely acting weirder than usual." Peter looks at them warily, torn between saying he doesn't even care if there is information on Loki, but also still being insanely curious about him and everything involving him. Because Peter has issues apparently. "So, it is about Loki, then?"

They share a look and something passes between them and Steve definitely looks like he's going to say something, Peter knows that look, it's him digging in his heels and about to stand firm on whatever argument is about to take place, facing the problem head on like he does.

But Tony beats him to it, "Yep. Steve keeps trying to talk all about it and I've already told him what a horrible idea that is."

Their gazes don't waver from each other, technically talking to the room, but it feels more like a private conversation, "Actually, I seem to remember you slamming a door in my face before I could even get a word out. We can't not talk about it, Tony."

"That's where you're wrong, Cap, I can damn well do whatever I please."

"Oh the world already knows Tony Stark does what he wants, no matter who he hurts in the process." Tony's face seems to shift slightly, the words giving him pause as he looks over Steve's face with what seems like a small spark of hope.

Peter can't tell if he finds what he's looking for or not, but Tony's abruptly standing, putting his glass down on the table and moving, "Well, I think that's enough for me, Agent Coulson has been blowing up my phone all night, and you know how he tends to just show up on your doorstep if he doesn't get enough attention."

"Tony-" Steve starts, but Tony waves him off as he gets up and starts to leave

"I'll see you guys later, Peter why don't you take my spot in Monopoly." He tosses the dice at Peter, who catches them easily, if a bit startled.

Steve watches him go, a look on his face that's difficult for Peter to look at. It's maybe a turn or two later that Steve follows suit and says he has an early day tomorrow and should get to bed. Everyone's pretty much looking amused as soon as he leaves, and Peter waits until he's gone before turning to as Nat, "that wasn't actually about Loki, was it?"

She leans in conspiratorially and answers, "Not even a little bit."

Peter sighs, still feeling like he's missing something, but also kind of feeling like he doesn't want to know.

The next night, Peter finds himself lying in bed, scrolling through Reddit on his phone and just letting time slip by. Moondust by Jaymes Young is playing on his laptop, filling the room with a good beat and Peter's trying to relax, he's already had a good patrol through the City, being productive and all that. He's supposed to go hang out with Ned tomorrow and just veg out and play video games and Peter deserves that, okay? He deserves to just relax, take a load off for a little while.

There's been no word, or sighting, of Loki, and Peter can't really tell if it's a blessing or a curse, because he definitely still finds a small unsettling kernel of hope nested in his chest, still holding out for the possibility that they could be friends, but he also knows the absolute embarrassed mess of a person he'd be if he had to face Loki after what happened.

And, sure, Peter is like 75% sure this is just Loki's MO. From everything he's learned from Thor, the guy doesn't really know how to have friends, his go to is trickery and betrayal, because he doesn't know anything else. So sure he's probably just freaking out or something and pushing people away, or whatever. Peter definitely hasn't over analyzed this entire situation 8 ways from Sunday.

But he's not sure what to do from here, other than to extensively ignore the problem and hope it goes away. Hence, the slightly mopey Spotify playlist.

Peter has about a split second of his spidey sense going off before he's jerking himself up into a sitting position, just in time to see a body suddenly appear out of nowhere.

One second Peter is looking at his empty room, and the next, Loki is standing in the middle of it, swaying on his feet unsteadily as he looks around blearily. Peter is frozen in shock, until Loki seems to pitch and starts to fall over, and Peter finally moves and grabs Loki around the waist before he can hit the floor.


End file.
